


honey tea

by peachtones



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: (at least for bin), (cameos will likely be made by assorted member of other groups), (everyone else is still in astro), Alternate Universe - Non-Idol, M/M, Slow Burn, also this will probably be a mix of text and social media-style writing (but text heavy), bin is a fansite master
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-10 10:36:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12297423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peachtones/pseuds/peachtones
Summary: In his whole life, Bin did not think he would've become a fansite master.Fansite master was pointedlynoton the list of his dream careers, (which included, but was not limited to: becoming a dancer and opening his own studio, being a famous mukbang broadcaster, and being paid to sleep) and yet... here he was. In Hongdae. Inside the venue. Lifting up a huge and expensive camera. Taking pictures of Astro.(Specifically, of one Cha Eunwoo.)





	1. 제 일 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> why,, is there a lack of fansite master fics in general like those are my faves,,,,,,
> 
> also the fansite sooah/bin run is called 꿀차 (or honey tea, literally, but could also be honey cha, as in honey cha eunwoo, or if you're bad at context clues while translating, honey car)

**문아! / 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** hello everyone! this is honey tea’s fansite masternim, moon-ah! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ  
i am sorry to say that i can no longer run honey tea… (1/6)  
**1.5k replies, 2.1k retweets, 4.4k likes**

**문아! / 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** sadly, i am moving onto a new chapter of my life (a pretty big one!) and can longer support astro as a fansite master. but don’t worry! (2/6)  
**1.6k replies, 2.1k retweets, 4.6k likes**

**문아! / 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** picking up where i am leaving off, my brother will continue to run my fansite! he will go by “moon” too, but as two-moon instead of moon-ah! (3/6)  
**2.1k replies, 2.3k retweets, 4.6k likes**

**문아! / 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** and don’t worry! i made him practice a lot and he’s actually pretty good! there is no one i trust more than him to run this for me! (4/6)  
**1.6k replies, 2.0k retweets, 4.4k likes**

**문아! / 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** thank you all for this wonderful time in my life, and please continue to support me when i made my reappearance! (･ω <)~☆ (5/6)  
**1.5k replies, 2.1k retweets, 4.4k likes**

**문아! / 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** he will introduce himself in the next tweet, so please treat him kindly and give him your best wishes! (6/6)  
**1.4k replies, 2.0k retweets, 4.7k likes**

 

" _Oh my god_ ," Bin sighed, thumbs hovering over the pop-up keyboard. He glanced over his shoulder at Sooah, who had ran back into the kitchen after tossing Bin her phone, afraid she was going to overcook their ramen. "Oh my god," he repeated, staring down at the six tweets before him. This was actually happening. He was actually going to become a fansite master. Like, really. Literally. Tomorrow, in fact. In approximately twelve hours he would be on a bus to Hongdae for his first fanmeeting (not a fansign, like he had previously thought. Sooah had sat down for an half an hour to explain the differences between fansigns and fanmeetings to him). (Oh god, he was going to have to _meet_ Astro, on top of taking pictures and videos of them from afar? Like, at least if it was a fansign there would be the buffer of the album and the sticky notes but now he had to actually _interact_ with them? For like a whole minute (probably)?)

"Sooah," Bin said at an above normal volume, eyes not lifting from the phone screen. "What if Astro hates me and I get banned from going to any fanmeet, fansign, pre-recording, concert, and any other miscellaneous event they hold in public ever again? How will I provide for this household if I cannot bake the metaphorical bread that makes me the breadwinner?"

"You could busk," Sooah said, mouth half full of ramen as she walked back into the living room, making a beeline for the low coffee table. She sat the pot down, stirred the noodles, and picked up as much as her chopsticks could hold before stuffing her face, continuing, swinging her chopsticks back and forth after each point, "and then get scouted, and then become a trainee, and then debut in an idol group, and then bake all the metaphorical bread your heart desires."

Bin just groaned, sliding off the couch and down to the floor, sitting across from his sister. He placed the phone of the table and held his hand out for the chopsticks, at which she gave him the stink-eye before she handed them over to him, standing back up.

She was right ― he could do all of those things, right up to baking all that metaphorical bread. But then both of them would probably be broke and hungry for the next two years, at _least._ He didn't want to go through that, lest put his sister through it. If he had been born into another life, maybe. Maybe if he was still living with his parents in Cheongju and not sharing a cramped apartment with his sister in Seoul. Maybe if a few things had just been different.

“I guess,” he mumbled, poking at the pot of ramen as she walked back to the kitchen, grabbing another pair of chopsticks for herself and the container of kimchi from their fridge. “I mean,” he continued, pulling noodles out of the pot and blowing on them, “I might as well at this point. Both of my best friends have debuted already, and now my sister is a becoming a trainee?” He sighed dramatically, throwing the back of his hand onto his forehead, “it seems I am destined for the idol life.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sooah snorted as she stood in front of him, holding the kimchi container so he could take a piece before she returned her previous spot at the table. “If you consider taking pictures of idols and doing dance covers of their songs ‘the idol life’.”

“You're right,” he sighed, leaning back against the couch cushions as he put the piece of kimchi in his mouth.

“Of course I'm right.” Sooah pointed her chopsticks at him. “Now stop stalling and introduce yourself to my followers.” She hesitated. “Your followers now, but.” A pause. “Our... followers? I don't know the semantics, but just do it.” She lowered her chopsticks back to the pot for more noodles. “And don't forget to change the name.”

Bin scoffed, pulling himself up from his reclined position against the couch. “I know what I’m doing, I'm not an idiot.”

She leveled him with a look. “Are you sure?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Do you mean like, how to change a Twitter name or just in general?”

“Yes,” she said, without hesitation.

Bin’s mouth dropped open slightly. His own sister, attacking him like this. He set his chopsticks on the table with one hand and picked up Sooah’s phone with the other. “I can't believe I’m being disrespected like this, in my own home.”

She just smiled at him, bringing noodles to her mouth. “If you don't hurry up, I'm going to eat all this ramen myself.”

“What would your followers say if I told them you were harassing your brother, hmm?” he asked with a raised eyebrow, glancing up as he typed. "Just you wait until you debut, I'm gonna post  _all_ of your embarrassing pictures. You'll be dying and fans with thank me for giving them this gift."

"Whatever," she dismissed, nudging the pot in his direction when he set her phone back down on the table and pushed it towards her.

 

**╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** hello!! i am two moon!! please treat me kindly and let's work well together in the future!! thank you!!  
**2.5k replies, 3.4k retweets, 5.8k likes**


	2. 제 이 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is kind of a flashback!! (technically, it takes place before the first chapter)
> 
> it's more just setting up stuff than plot, so sorry about that!

Step by step, Sooah had introduced Bin to the life that was being a fansite master.

He learned how to take photos well (it had helped that he had taken photography for his humanities credit at university, before he decided to take a gap year), how to edit pictures and add logos in Photoshop, where to post the photos and how to compile them for photobooks, and how to find schedules posted by Fantagio (and which events to attend. Honey Tea was present for fansigns and fanmeetings, music shows and prerecordings, public events, and showcases and concerts (when available), but not for in transit or at the airport) so far.

(But not before she had given him a crash course on everything Astro. He already had a basic knowledge of the group, considering his sister’s life literally revolved around them ― how many members there were, their names, how old they were, what position in the group they were, and all of their title tracks (he had danced to a majority of them with his sister, anyway).

Nonetheless, she presented him with official member profiles and facts (which Bin only complained _a little bit_ at, since, “Chanhee trained with them, I already know some dumb shit about them” “Like what?” “Like Sanha picks his nose when he thinks so no is looking”.) and made him watch _To Be Continued_ (which he may have gotten a little too invested in, but no one needs to know that) and _Boyfriend Milk_ (the twist made him gasp) _,_ the video of them yelling and trying to capture a cicada for eight minutes (he was wheezing for a full minute after), their Replay special stage (he put his hand on his chest when Rocky started singing), and a compilation of Eunwoo dancing to Up  & Down (he couldn’t help but be taken aback at the duality of man). As a bonus, he took a _What Member of Astro are You?_ quiz and got Rocky.)

Now with Astro’s next comeback quickly approaching, it was time to start preparing for the busiest time of the year as a fansite master. The moment the first teaser was released, Sooah beckoned Bin to her room ― which was decorated top to bottom with Astro merchandise, and would like a shrine dedicated to the group if anyone hadn’t known that she ran a fansite. Posters, banners, fans and photocards were hung on the walls. Two years worth of albums were placed neatly on bookshelves, signed ones being displayed as bookends and signed photobooks each opened to a different page to showcase the boy’s signature. A sheet of plexiglass covering her desk, post-it notes with questions on them from fansigns carefully arranged under the clear material.

As Bin entered his sister’s room, he witnessed her pulling a large constellation-patterned box out from under her bed. She motioned for him to come over to her bed. He followed her command, sprawling himself out on it as she moved the box from the floor to her bed.

“Astro’s first teaser for their comeback was released today,” she informed him as she lifted the lid from the box. “So you’re going to have to buy albums soon, to get into fansigns, so you can do your job. I’m going to give you a rundown on how it works.” Her mouth formed a line and her eyebrows furrowed as she sat the lid down on her comforter, “well, how I do it, at least.”

“Okay,” Bin said as he propped himself up, resting his head on his hand, “hit me with it. It can’t be any worse than you making me take pictures of you running around.”

She glanced up at him, lips back to the line. “That was to practice action shots! They move around a lot, especially on stage. Also sometimes members get pushed off the ledge by each other during fansigns and those are always great photos. You need to be able to get pictures of them moving that aren’t blurry.”

They had spent a whole day going around Seoul so he could get proper photo lessons from her.  She mostly made him take pictures of people, teaching him how to use her camera and what shutter speeds and settings were good for what kind of pictures. And then, she insisted on making him taking pictures of her running around at a playground to see if he could take any pictures of her that weren’t blurry. Some of the photos they took that day turned out really well, so they sent them to their parents. One of Bin’s photos, of Sooah petting a stray cat, was hanging up on their fridge.

“Sure,” he hummed skeptically, watching as she removed 200 photocards (or at least, it seemed like 200 to Bin. He was guestimating, it was probably more than 200) from the box, which appeared to be sorted by member and kept together with a rubberband, and set them in box’s lid.

“How many of these do you even have?” Bin asked, gesturing to the pile of photocards.

“Every photo variation of each member from every era,” she said as she pulled out a smaller star-patterned box from the big one. “So, a lot. I’ve never counted them all. You can if you want, though.”

“Um, no thanks,” he said quickly. He’d rather spend his free time doing something worthwhile, like taking a nap. “I’m good.”

She opened the smaller box and took out a wallet, tossing it in her brother’s direction. He scrambled to move his arm out from under his head to catch it, ending up smacking his head against the wall as the wallet hit his chest and fell to the bed. As he clutched his head in pain he could hear his sister snicker. What a brat. He stuck his leg out to kick her, which she simply stepped backwards to avoid.

“There’s a credit card in the wallet,” she informed him, tamping down her snickering. “I canceled the old one in my name and opened this one in your name.”

“Credit card?” he echoed as he brought a hand down from his head to pick up the wallet. He opened it and pulled the card out from its slot. It did indeed have his name on it. He glanced up at Sooah, holding up the card. “Do I even want to know how you did this?”

“Probably not. I also put ₩5,000,000 into your account, but that’s for the card.” She pointed a stern finger at him. “Don’t use it for personal things. Only for emergencies.”

He gave her the _okay_ hand gesture as he leaned back against the wall, rubbing his head. He watched her unzip a bag (that looked suspiciously like the makeup bag Bin had bought her last year for her birthday) that had been in the smaller box and pulled out a wad of cash, holding it out to her brother. He quickly shoved the card back into its slot and took the money that was being held out to him, thumbing through the bills as he sat back against the wall. He repeated the action with a shake of his head, unsure if he was counting correctly. ₩1,000,000. His sister had just given him ₩1,000,000. He looked up in time to see more wads of cash neatly organized in the bag as Sooah zipped it back up. He couldn’t stop his mouth from dropping open.

“I can’t believe this,” he said, in disbelief. “You made me buy you takeout yesterday. When you are, in fact, literally loaded. What the hell, Sooah? You’re treating me next time we go out, no _if_ , _ands_ , or _buts_.”

“Don’t _what the hell, Sooah_ me,” she retorted as she stuffed the bag of money back into its box. “All of this is money goes straight back into running the fansite. This pays for transportation, albums and merchandise, and other business-related expenses. How do you think I could afford a new camera when some asshole elbowed me on the subway and made me drop my old one?”

Bin was silent for a moment. “I honestly did not even know your camera broke, so.”

She rolled her eyes as she put the small box back into the bigger one. “Anyway, use the money I gave you to buy albums from the stores that are selling for the Seoul fansigns - pick wherever, it doesn’t matter. Sangam, Hongdae, Seocho, Myeongdong, it’s your choice. But buy them physically, and not in bulk. Pop in, buy 15 albums, come home and buy more tomorrow at a different store.” She gathered up the photocards, straightening them out. “The card is for pre-ordering for sales and to buy albums for Ilsan, Yeouido, and Goyang, if you want to travel. I only travel if I’m going to the fanmeetings and music shows. But since you’re just starting, I’d wait like two weeks before you do music shows. They can be a bit hectic.”

“Okay,” Bin said, neatly stuffing the won he had received into the wallet and closing it. “But I need to know... What do you do with all the extra albums? Because I know you buy like at least 300. I’ve seen the boxes, I have no idea how you get them home from the post office.”

She shrugged, placing the photocards inside the box before closing it. “I started working out,” she brought her arms up, flexed her biceps to show her muscle definition, “holding up a camera for hours builds muscle too.” She moved the box off the bed and crouched, shoving it back under her head. “But I usually just sell them back to fans who do overseas group orders from me. That’s where all of the preorders I do go. And if I get into more than three fansigns, I’ll sell the ones from the extra fansigns at a slightly higher price, but I let the person I’m selling it to pick questions they want on the sticky notes I put on the pages. Also, you didn’t ask, but I usually do polls for questions on Twitter, since I can never decide what to ask the boys.”

He didn’t realize how much his sister really did for her followers. “That’s… actually really nice.”

She flopped onto her bed after the box was safely tucked under her bed. “Well, they’re willing to pay extra for it and I’m going to be at so many fansigns to take pictures anyways, so they might as well get something out of it.” She grabbed her pillow and shoved it under her head. “Plus, everything I make from the specialized albums goes towards Eunwoo-oppa’s birthday project. Season’s greetings stuff, too, but I usually do that with Jiji since I can’t design stuff for shit. She’s the one who drew my logo.”

He glanced down at his sister. “What were you going to do this year? For Eunwoo’s birthday, I mean.”

“I’m not sure,” she hummed. “You’ll be in charge by the time his birthday comes around, so I thought I’d let you decide. But I usually team up with Sol, Jiji, and Hue for the birthday projects. Last year we decaled a bus. But you can do something solo if you get enough funds.” She shrugged, tucking her hands behind her head. “It’s up to you.”

“That feels like too much pressure. I think I’ll stick with doing something with the girls."

“Oh that reminds me,” she smacked his arm, suddenly remembering. “How is it going with the girls? They haven’t said anything to me about you yet, which makes me worry slightly. Usually Sol would have complained about you to me by now.”

He tries to think back to the last conversation he had with the other fansite masters. “Um, Hue is demanding I send baby pictures of you and I to the group chat. And a video of us dancing, because I won’t tell them where I post them. She’s started threatening me. Sol has been insulting my fashion choices. Also, she wants to do my makeup because we have the same eye shape and she says she can “make me look like an idol" and that it "will make Arohas think I’m a long lost member of Astro”. Jiji has been sending me pictures of animals she thinks look like me.”

A smile spread across her lips. “Sounds like you’re getting along with them well.”

He shrugged. “If you say so, they’re your friends.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sol, hue, and jiji will be introduced in the next chapter!!
> 
> also i made a [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/peachtones) so you guys can talk to me (also because i usually create too much story and background and can't always fit it in, so you could ask stuff about that too (like why bin and sooah live in seoul, about bin's gap year, etc, or about call me (baby) if you read that too))! 
> 
> (also also for the _which member of astro quiz_ i actually took the one on [soompi](https://www.soompi.com/2016/04/07/quiz-which-member-of-astro-are-you-100-according-to-astro/) to see if i could pick the right answers to get bin, and i did! (and then i took it again for real and got sanha))


	3. 제 삼 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally,, some fansign action
> 
> but here are the other fansites!! they're all fake ones i made up (honey tea included)! they all use nicknames like bin does.
> 
> \- sol >> starboy☆ (@starboyEW)  
> \- jiji >> SKYLIGHT (@skylight_330)  
> \- hue (but literally hyu) >> CODE33 (@CODEW33)
> 
> also some notes:  
> \- sol is two years older than bin and hue, who are the same age, and jiji is a year younger than them (also, jiji doesn't use oppa with bin, like sooah) (also also heights go: hue > bin > sol > jiji)  
> \- i have a basic understanding of how being a fansite master works also i've never been to fansigns/fanmeets, so some stuff might be inaccurate? i apologize in advance for that  
> 

In the two weeks following Sooah’s official departure from their apartment and her absence from Bin’s life, he had, in short, had practically lost all control in his life. It had started slowly, with little things until he found himself staying up all night watching videos on his computer and ending up sleeping on the couch instead of his own bed ― the only thing keeping him on a semi-regular sleep schedule being his part time job at a coffee shop-slash-cafe. The fridge was slowly becoming emptier and emptier until he actually had to force himself to shopping for fear of starvation. Trash was beginning to pile up because he kept forgetting to take it out. He hadn’t done laundry in a week and a half and was running out of shirts.

How he was going to fend for himself and live alone like an actual adult, he didn’t know.

He did, however, put up some ads looking for a roommate. Hopefully someone would apply soon or else he would probably get too lonely and end up buy a dog or something, even though his apartment complex didn’t allow pets, resulting in him trying to keep one hidden in his apartment and likely subsequently getting thrown out of said apartment before he could get his deposit back.

 

―――

 

**[ direct messages ⇋ masternim hq ]**

**☆sol | starboy☆ [ 13:56 ]  
** moon if you’re late again i’m going to use your seat as to place to put all our bags and you’re gonna have to stand the whole time

 **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴) [ 13:57 ]  
** I’m with Sol, it took us a lot of time and persuading to get people to trade numbers with us so we could all sit together and if you disrespect our hard work like this I’m going to have to fight you

 **JIJI / SKYLIGHT [ 13:57 ]  
** i’d fight sol and hue on your behalf moon but they’d beat me to a pulp

 **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴) [ 13:57 ]  
** Moonah would never treat us like this

 **[ 13:57 ]╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차  
** hUE HOW DARE YOU BRING MY SISTER INTO THIS  
also thank you jiji it’s the thought that counts  
but I am literally sprinting down the sidewalk as I type I am like 3 minutes away  
maybe less  
or more, depending on if i get hit by a scooter on my way there

 **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴) [ 13:58 ]  
** If you get hit by a measly scooter you’re dead to me

 **[ 13:58 ]╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차  
** wow i am absolutely feeling the love

 

Bin had never ran so hard in his life. He was pretty sure by the time he did make it to the venue, he was going to keel over and cough up a lung. Maybe straight up die, who knew. He was so out of shape. But that’s what he gets, he supposed, for deciding to sprint from the bus stop to the venue.

When he reached where Sol, Hue, and Jiji were standing in line he leaned over, placing his hands on his knees as he tried really hard not to let lung exit through his esophagus like it was really trying to. In that moment, he regretted not dancing consistently enough for it to count as a form of exercise.

A water bottle appeared in his field of vision and he took it gratefully, coughing out a _thank you_ to whichever of the girls had handed it to him. Probably Jiji, if the (sparkly, decaled) nails were anything to go by. He righted himself and took a tentative sip, not trusting his body to not choke on it, before he downed half the bottle. It took him a moment to realize that all three pairs of eyes were on him.

“What?” he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, thinking he had some water on his face.

“You…” Sol started, pointing her own manicured finger at his chest, “work at a coffee shop?”

He glanced down before his eyes widened, a hand flying up to cover the nametag that was still pinned to his shirt. He had apparently forgotten to take it off after his shift ended, in too much of a rush to get from the coffee shop he worked at in Myeongdong to the fansign venue in Hongdae. He had spent the whole 46 minute bus ride checking and double checking his backpack and camera case to make sure he had everything he needed to for today and posting the HQ pictures that Sooah had left in Honey Tea’s twitter drafts, and somehow had not noticed he still had his nametag was still attached to his shirt.

“You mean to tell me that we could have been getting discounted coffee this whole time? I feel betrayed, Bin,” Sol said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Your name is… _Bin_?” Hue asked in a whisper, a shit-eating grin on her face as she threw her arm over his shoulder, tugging him closer to her in a loose headlock. Curse Hue and her tall person genes.

Bin closed his eyes and exhaled, whispering, “ _I was so careful. Why me? Why now?_ ”

Hue squeezed him. “You can have your existential crisis about us finding out your name later, they’re about to open the doors,” she said, before she released him and skipped up to where Sol was standing to lean against the shorter girl, arms thrown over her shoulders.

While everyone moved to arrange themselves in a proper line, he took the opportunity to unpin his name tag from his shirt and slip it into his backpack.

Jiji shot Bin a grin as she shuffled to stand behind the other girls. “You excited about your first fansign?”

“I am terrified,” he answered, pulling the papers he needed to enter the fansign out of a zipper on the outside of his backpack. Jiji gave him an incredulous look. “Really, I’m not joking. I’m actually glad that work messed up my schedule and wasn’t able to actually go to the fanmeet last week because I think I would’ve actually died. Like, because of the adrenaline. Don’t give me that look, I googled it, people can actually be scared to death.”

“Oh, Moon, I almost forgot,” Sol suddenly said in front of them, turning around (and taking Hue with her) as she reached into the tote bag she had been carrying, pulling something out and holding it in Bin’s direction. “Here,” Sol said, “put this on or else they’re gonna think you’re like, a trainee or something.” Her face scrunched up as she surveyed his face. “Why does your face have to be handsome?”

Bin smiled bashfully at the comment as he took what she was holding out to him: a face mask.  He turned it over, noticing the Honey Tea logo ― a tea cup and saucer with a honey dipper sticking out of it ― neatly embroidered onto the front of it in white thread. Sol tugged up her own mask, showing a similarly embroidered ― white where Bin’s was black, with golden thread instead of white ― Starboy logo.

“Welcome to the squad,” Hue said, shooting him finger guns before tugging the mask she had been wearing under her chin up to cover her mouth. It was black and white like Bin’s, the number _33_ embroidered onto it.

 

It took less time than Bin thought it would to actually get into the venue, get their numbers, find the people they were trading numbers with, and find the seats that said numbers belonged to. The seats that the girls had managed to trade other fans for were at the front of the venue ― only two rows away from the raised platform that made the stage ― which made sense considering they said they had to do some persuading to get people to trade their seats. Hue and Sol already started setting up, pulling tripods out of nowhere and whipping out their small cannons that served as their cameras.

“Oh, fuck,” Hue said in the middle of taking a few test shots before her hand shot out to cover her mouth. She lowered it before continuing softer than before. " _Frick_ , I mean frick; there are children here. We forgot to do rock paper scissors.”

“Rock paper scissors?” Bin asked, clueless, as he cradled Sooah’s camera to his chest as he watched his senior fansite masters work their magic in front of him.

Jiji just groaned on the other side of Bin as she fiddled with her camera settings, trying to find the right color balance with the venue lighting. Hue pointed past Bin to the youngest of the group. “You want to in?” Jiji shook her head. Hue turned her finger to Bin. “Moon?”

“I don’t…” he trailed off, turning to Jiji for an explanation.

“Sol and Hue usually do rock paper scissors to see who will film a solo fancam and who will film Eunwoo-oppa’s interactions with the other members,” she explained, continuing to play with the settings on her camera. “They don’t want to both end up filming the same thing, especially since they’re both at the same angle, so they do this each time they attend the same events so they don’t do it accidentally.”

“Ah,” Bin said, turning back to Hue. “I’ll stick with pictures, thanks though.”

“Your loss,” she shrugged, turning around to go head to head with Sol in their game of rock paper scissors, best two out three winning the opportunity to film the Eunwoo solo fancam. (Sol won. Sol always won, Bin learned, after listening to Hue complain about the fact that she hadn’t shot a solo fancam for Eunwoo in over a year when the two fansites went to the same events.)

The noise inside the venue became a dull roar as people talked amongst each other while they waited for the event to start. Bin could hear a few people whispering immediately behind him before he felt a light tap on his shoulder. At first he thought it was Hue or Jiji, but both girls were immersed in their cameras, so he turned in his seat to see two girls sitting behind him, looking at him expectantly.

“Excuse me, but are you the new Honey Tea masternim?” one of the girls asked, half of her face covered by a fan with Eunwoo’s face on it. After a moment, he recognized it as a Honey Tea fan from last year’s seasons greetings spread Sooah had shown him.

Bin smiled at the girl, before realizing that she couldn't see it behind his mask. “Yeah,” he said kind of awkwardly, a beat too late.

“You'll do well, we believe in you!” the other girl told him encouragingly. She held up two fists in the _fighting!_ gesture, which he mimicked (as best as he could with a camera in hands) with a laugh.

He was about to open his mouth and thank the girl when people started yelling. Bin turned back around in his seat to see Sanha’s head, and only Sanha’s head, peeking out from behind the curtains set up on the stage. His finger twitched on the shutter button, wanting to capture the moment, but he could already hear several rapid shutter clicks from not too far away. The Sanha fansites had it covered; he was here for Eunwoo. Sanha stuck his tongue out and there were even more shutter clicks before he disappeared completely behind the curtain.

Shortly after he disappeared, all five members entered from stage left and greeted the crowd, unleashing the hurricane of sound that was camera shutter clicks.

They took their time as they moved from the front the the stage to their seats behind the table, waving to the crowd as they asked things like _have you eaten yet?_ and _was it too cold outside?_ and _you weren’t waiting too long, were you?_ , to which the crowd responded with _yes, no,_ and _no_ together back at the boys on stage. Bin managed to catch shots of Eunwoo waving at the crowd with both hands, even though he had a mic in one of them (while also managing to get Sanha tripping Rocky with his chair as he pulled it out, just behind Eunwoo).

As soon as they were all seated (Sanha sitting in the first chair, followed by Eunwoo, then Rocky, then JinJin and MJ), staffs called out for the first row of people to start lining up. As soon as the first girl left her seat, Bin’s camera was practically glued to his face, going into work mode.

It couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes before the second row was being called up, causing Bin to lower his camera and turn to look at Jiji with a distressed look, who read his mind with ease.

“You can bring your camera,” she told him, squeezing his arm. “Just put it away before you get on stage.”

He nodded, making an affirmative noise as he stood and following Jiji out from their row and into the aisle, Hue and Sol directly behind them.

“You ready to meet Astro, kid?” he heard Sol ask.

“No,” he answered monotonously without turning around, raising his voice so Sol could hear him. Jiji snorted in front of him and Hue giggled behind him. He brought his camera to face as they reached the line at the edge of the stage, ignoring both girls.

“Don’t worry, it’s not as scary as it seems. You won’t die, like, because the adrenaline, or anything,” Sol consoled, quoting him from before, to which Bin just hummed.

Bin took shots over Jiji’s head as they moved closer and closer to the stage, their changing positions providing him with a new angles every couple of minutes. Soon enough, it was Jiji’s turn to step on stage. She turned to Bin before she moved to the stairs, “don’t forget to get out your photobook.”

“Oh, right,” Bin mumbled dumbly, deciding to take just a few more shots before swinging his backpack off his shoulders, returning the camera to its case inside and pulling out said photobook. He decided to tug down the mask covering half of his face, too, because he should make a good impression, right? They were bound to see his face anyway if he was going to be attending lots of events from now forward.

“Sanha!” he heard Jiji exclaim happily as she sat in the seat in front of him. He watched as she reached into her backpack and pulled out of one those squeaky ducks that make that god awful wheezing sound. He squeezed it and Bin literally felt everyone within the venue simultaneously look in Sahna and Jiji’s direction as the duck let out its horrible wail; he had to physically prevent himself from groaning in agony.

He visibly jumped when Hue put her hands on his shoulders, beginning to massage them half-heartedly.

“Dude, relax,” she said, digging her thumbs into his shoulder blades. “You’re so tense. You’re literally just going to talk to each of them for a minute. It’ll just be a lot of introductions. No stress.”

“I know,” he said, but it sounded more like he was saying it to himself.

The people on the platform shuffled to the next seat and Hue smacked Bin on the back. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Bin shot Hue a look that could only be described as constipated as he started to climb the stairs, but as soon as he stepped onto the stage, his mind blanked and he forgot everything he had prepared to say beforehand. Nonetheless, he took the seat that Jiji had previously been occupying, because it would probably leave a bad impression if he, a (technically new) fansite master, walked back off the stage.

“Hi!” Sanha greeted cheerfully as Bin sat down, silently thankful that he was the one at the start of the table; he reminded Bin of a puppy, easily distracted and excitable. The easiest of the five to hold small talk with the least effort possible.

“Hi,” Bin echoed back, placing his photobook on the table, which the younger boy took from him and spun around, flipping it open to the pages with his pictures with the assistance of the page markers Bin had put in the book.

“You know, we don’t get a lot of male Arohas at fansigns, so it’s nice to meet you! Do you want to hold hands?” Sanha asked as he uncapped his marker, smiling at Bin. “I mean, you don’t have to, but people usually like to.”

“Um, sure,” Bin muttered, letting Sanha lace his fingers with his before he started rocking their hands back and forth as he went to leave his signature on the page in front of him. Bin let the hand-holding happen for a moment before he decided, “this is so weird.”

Sanha shrugged, letting go of Bin’s hand so he could turn the page without letting go of his marker, letting out a delighted noise at seeing the sticky note stuck to the page. “I guess I’m used to it.” He scribbled down his answer to the sticky note, scribbling down his answer to the sticky note placed on his page with his free hand. He closed the photobook when he was finished, looking up at Bin. “So are you a fansite master, then? Because I don’t think _Honey Tea_ is your name,” he said, referring to how he had addressed the the sticky note _From: Honey Tea_. “That’d be a really weird mono-syllabic name.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Cool! Who for?” Bin glanced dumbly to the seat next to him, at Eunwoo, who was smiling at something Jiji had said. Luckily, Sanha caught his drift. “Eunwoo-hyung, nice.” He hummed, stroking his chin, “the name suddenly makes sense.”

A staff member suddenly appeared behind them, motioning for them to wrap it up so they could bring the next person up. Sanha smiled up at Bin as he stood. “It was nice to meeting you, come to a fansign again!”

“I will,” he assured as he took his photobook and slid it over as he stood up; he had already gotten into two more fansigns and a fanmeet, so he was definitely going to be seeing him again.

“Hi,” Eunwoo said as Bin sat in front of him, smiling pleasantly at him. Bin suddenly understood why Eunwoo also modeled, because like, were people even allowed to look that good? While just sitting casually and smiling? In this unforgiving, bright lighting? It should be illegal. 

“Hi,” Bin echoed again. He watched the boy in front of him flip the photobook open to his pages.

“Honey Tea?” he asked, confused, glancing up at Bin. “I thought Sooah was Honey Tea’s fansite master?”

“Oh, s-she was,” Bin said, sitting up straighter in his seat, leaning forward slightly. “I’m her brother. She couldn’t do it anymore, so I took over for her.”

“Oh.” He sounded a little disappointed, but quickly recovered. “Well, what’s your name?”

“Oh! Uh, Moon.” His eyes widened, instantly realizing his mistake. “Wait, no- Bin. Moon Bin.”

He heard Hue choke on a snort next to him. Wasn't she supposed to be having a moment with Sanha right now, not eavesdropping on the seat next to her? The nerve of her.

“Moonbin?” Eunwoo asked, his pen hovering above the album page.

He nodded. “Yeah.” He furrowed his eyebrows. “No. Moon, end syllable. Bin, end syllable. Monosyllabic.”

Eunwoo made a sound of acknowledgement as he wrote Bin’s name, followed by scribbling his signature onto the page, “to Moon, end syllable, Bin, end syllable. Monosyllabic.” He glanced up at him with a grin. “So, Bin, who is your favorite member?”

Bin didn’t have a favorite member of Astro (yet. The vote was still out on that, he hadn’t had time to really sit down and deliberate on which member he liked the most. Which member filled his heart with the most joy. Which member made him fall out of his bed at a particularly fansite picture, even though he was a fansite master himself), but in the moment, he panicked. “You,” he said, before his brain could catch up to his mouth.

The grin on his face widened, causing the corners of his eyes to crinkle. He broke eye contact to answer the sticky note. “Well, that’s a good thing, then?”

Dumbly, Bin said, “yeah.”

And then a staff member appeared, like with Sanha, motioning for Bin to move to the next seat.

“Bye, Moon Bin,” Eunwoo said as he returned the photobook to Bin.

“Bye, Cha Eunwoo,” Bin managed to say back.

He was pretty sure that he blacked out after that. He could not, for the life of him, remember what he said to Rocky, Jinjin, and MJ, or what the said back to him ― the only proof that he had actually sat in front of them was that they had signed their pages and answered the sticky notes in his photobook. He actually felt kind of bad about it, but there was nothing he could do now.

When he reached he seat, he returned the photobook to his backpack and pulled out his camera again, ready to actually take pictures uninterrupted.

Throughout the event, he took as many pictures as he could, praying his memory card wouldn't fill up. He had forgotten to clear it the night before of old photos, so in a panic, he pulled his camera down to see how many pictures he had left, only to almost nearly have a heart attack when he lifted it back up to see Eunwoo staring directly into his lense.

Apparently, the line had gotten backed up at Sanha, leaving Eunwoo personless (and bored), so he sought out Bin’s camera. He tried to suppress a laugh as he watched Bin jump, holding a hand to his smiling mouth, which Bin captured in a few clicks.

Minus completely blanking on three-fifths of Astro and nearly having a heart attack because of one Cha Eunwoo, the rest of the fansign went smoothly; Astro took a short break to stretch and interact with fans (before they tried to see who could flip the most bottles in a row. Bin thought that trend had died, but apparently not) near the halfway point and  played a game with the audience after everyone inside the venue had gotten to meet the boys to win some signed polaroids. The boys lingered on stage after that, looking tired but not really wanting to say goodbye, only doing so when they were encouraged by staffs to do so. After saying their farewell, they waved enthusiastically and wished everyone a safe trip home, to eat something delicious, and to be careful of catching colds as they exited behind the curtain.

 

 **╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** previews will be up tomorrow!! in the meantime, here’s my sticky notes from the fansign!! (･ω <)~☆  
**1.2k replies, 3k retweets, 4.6k likes**

 **╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차** @honeytea97330 **  
** 171126 HONGDAE FANSIGN ☆ STICKY NOTES  
Q: If you could spend the rest of your life with one person, who would it be?  
SH: AR♡HA  
MH: Aroha  
EW: Honey Tea Masternim ♡  
JJ: Myungjun-hyung  
MJ: Aroha ♡♡♡  
**2.4k replies, 5k retweets, 7.5k likes**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like eunwoo is the kind of guy to recognize all his fansites,, ya feel
> 
> (also bin ended up giving away his fanmeet spot! he did a lottery on the honey tea twitter)


	4. 제 사 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chap might be a lil boring, sorry abt that, but i gotta show bin's personal life too u know? it's not just all fansigns and cha eunwoo

As Bin returned from the back of the cafe, a tray of warm, freshly baked bread and pastries in each hand, his manager called out to him.

“Bin-ah,” Jisung said as Bin squeezed past him, carefully eyeing the trays as Bin lifted them over their heads, “your girls are here again.”

“Oh?” Bin said as he placed the trays on the counter, eyes lifting to scan the cafe for Sol, Hue, and Jiji. They were all seated at a table halfway into the cafe, in front of the front windows ㅡ their usual spot. They collectively waved and smiled when they spotted him looking their way. He waved back.

The three of them had starting coming to the cafe Bin worked at ㅡ Energetic ㅡ as soon as his identity as a part time worker had been exposed, whether it be in a group like today, in pairs, or by themselves. To be honest, he didn’t mind it, even though he had reacted dramatically when they found out. Since Sooah had become too busy to drop in regularly like before, the girls had become substitute sisters for him.

“I’ll do their orders as soon as I put these in the case,” he said, picking up one of the trays. “But I still need to get the cakes from the back too.”

“You know what?” Jisung said as he squinted at Bin, before glancing at the watch on his wrist. “It's close enough to the hour ㅡ clock out after you finish their order, okay? I can bring the cakes out. Jaehwan should be here soon anyway.”

Bin’s shoulders sagged in relief. “Thank you, hyung. You’re the best. Really.”

“I know,” Jisung scoffed, smiling and patting Bin’s shoulder as he walked past him to return to the register.

 

“I feel like you guys are just using me for my ability to get discounted coffee and baked goods,” Bin said as he arrived at their table, placing the drinks ㅡ all ridiculously named, thanks to the cafe owner ㅡ in front of each girl. He’d memorized their usual orders a while ago; a _Super Hot_ (a hot americano) for Sol, a _Dream Girls_ (a gourmet hot chocolate) for Jiji, and an _Energetic_ (an ungodly coffee concoction with multiple flavored syrups and so much whipped cream that had to be at least 75% sugar) for Hue.

“We are,” Hue said flatly, picking up her drink without even looking up from her phone. “But I’m pretty sure we’ve become this cafe’s most frequent patrons, so...” She tipped her drink in Bin’s direction before putting the straw in her mouth, “you're welcome.”

Bin rolled his eyes, dropping into the seat next to her as he moved the two slices of cake he brought out off the tray. He closed his eyes and leaned back in the seat, stretching his arms above his head, joints cracking pleasantly as he leaned from side to side. He let out a content sigh, followed by a tired one.

“If you do that again, the buttons on your shirt are going to pop off,” Sol said from atop the rim of her coffee cup, eyeing his shirt suspiciously.

He opened his eyes as he smoothed one of his hands down the front of his white button down. “It hasn’t yet.”

“It will though, just you wait,” Hue noted, still absorbed in her phone. “I’m surprised your biceps haven’t just ripped right through the fabric yet.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Bin said as he settled his head into his hand, grabbing his drink with the other. “We get it, you think my biceps are huge.”

“Mmhhmm,” she agreed, finally setting down her phone to feel Bin’s arm, “like the size of small watermelons. They just keep getting bigger.”

He smacked her hand away. “That’s what happens when you work out, your muscles get bigger.”

“Ah,” she said, frowning down at her slapped hand. “I wouldn’t know then.This girl ain’t never been to a gym.”

“Yeah, we can tell,” Sol snorted.

There was a lull in conversation as everyone sipped at their drinks, started eating the cake that Bin had brought out. They had managed to finish half their drinks and devour one and of the slices of cake and half of the other before someone spoke again.

It was Sol, digging her fork into the remainder of the lone slice of cake. “Bin-ah, you saw Moonah over the weekend, right?” she asked, looking up at Bin.

“Yeah,” Bin said, sitting back up in his seat. His arm was starting to get numb. “I walked her from school to the dorms on Friday. Why?”

“Just wondering,” Sol said, tapping the fork against her lips. “How is she?”

“ _Yeah_ ,” Hue whined, stealing a forkful of the cake, putting a hand over her mouth to stop her from spitting crumbs at the table's other occupants as she continued to talk. “How is our little baby Moon?” She sighed. “I miss her. She’ll be the maknae in our hearts forever.” She glanced over at Jiji. “No offense, Ji.”

With Sooah’s departure from the group of fansite masters, Jiji ㅡ who filled the year gap between the Moon siblings ㅡ had been granted with the title of maknae, now the youngest in their quartet.

“None taken,” Jiji said, warming her hands on what remained inside her ceramic cup.

“Uh, Sooah’s good.” Out of what his sister had told him (her saying that the other girls were really nice and welcoming,  insisting that she wasn’t tired (when Bin pointed out her growing dark circles) and the work she was doing was fun, getting lost in the YG building for a good thirty minutes before employees pointed her in the right direction, seeing CL in almost having a fangirl moment, and confirming that Yang Hyunsuk was creepier in person), he didn’t know what he was allowed to say. “She said she’s having fun, but I can tell she’s tired.”

Hue sighed, pouting as she rested her head on her hands. “Poor baby.”

“She better be eating well,” Sol muttered, chewing on a mouthful of cake.

Bin made a noise of understanding. “I asked her if she was and she insisted that she is, but I’m gonna force her to go out with me for a meal next weekend whether she likes it or not.”

Sol set down her fork. “Good. We might just have to tag along, though. You know, to make sure she is.

“Any gossip?” Jiji asked bluntly the second after Sol finished speaking, ignoring the (fake) scandalized look the oldest girl shot her. “She’s been there for almost a month, there has to be something.”

Bin leaned forward, placing his hands on the table. Slightly hushed, he said, “I don’t know what I’m at liberty to say, so I’ll only say that she confirmed that YG is creepier in person.”

“Ugh,” Hue groaned. “I hate him.”

“Who doesn’t?” Jiji chimed in. Hue reached across the table to hi-five her.

“I understand why she went for YG, but I still don’t like it,” Sol said.

“I know,” Bin agreed. “But it’s her life, she can do what she wants.”

“You right,” Hue sighed, mindlessly stirring her drink. “But you know what? When she debuts, there’s gonna be nothing to stop me from becoming a fansite for her. I’m gonna be her first fansite and I’m gonna call myself _Baby Moon_ and people are gonna wonder how I get all these great shots of her.”

“Not if I beat you to it. You better patent Baby Moon.” Sold said. She raised her eyebrows at Hue, “also, you’re just gonna drop Eunwoo like that?”

Hue simply shrugged. “I can be a fansite master for both. Give up my social life. Become a recluse who only goes out to take pictures and buy albums before returning to my cave of solitude. I’ll live on takeout. Adopt a few cats.”

Jiji eyed Hue suspiciously. “It seems like you’ve thought about this in depth.”

“Only since Moon told us she was joining an entertainment company,” she admitted. Suddenly, she pointed an accusing finger at Sol, trailing around the table to land on Jiji and Bin as well. “You guys are still coming to my apartment later, right?” She sighed, (dramatically) dropping her head onto the table. “I still need to pick pictures for my photobook, and I got like, thousands to pick from and I’m only half done. I need some outsider input, I can’t tell what pictures are good ones anymore.”

Jiji and Sol chorused a _yes._

Bin nodded as well. “But maybe after I take a nap. I’ve been awake since the ass crack of dawn because I had to switch shifts with Jaehwan.”

Hue winked at him, shooting the lot of them finger guns. “It’s a deal then. You bring your persons and I will provide the _chimek_ as an incentive.”

 

 

After a whole three hours of sorting through all the pictures of Eunwoo Hue had taken since her debut as a fansite master ㅡ while enjoying their promised chicken and beer ㅡ they had narrowed the number of pictures down to a mere 500 photos, which would probably condense down into (at the very least) 300 pages worth of Eunwoo in a photobook. They had cheered, clinking their cans together in celebration as they finished, deciding to put on a movie afterwards.

Out of the four of them, Bin was decidedly the most sober; he was the only who wasn’t spending the night at Hue’s apartment, so he had decided early on that he should probably maintain his sobriety so he could return home safely. Hue, on the other hand, had cut loose and drank freely in her own home, ending up a flushed and giggly mess of poor coordination, having almost fallen getting up off the couch once they had finished picking pictures. Sol was closer to Hue than Bin in her sobriety, but it would’ve been hard to tell to an untrained eye (the pinkness of her cheeks usually gave her away). That left Jiji, although having only just reached legal drinking age, who could drink them all under the table; she had easily consumed half of the cans now littered around the apartment.

Halfway through the movie (Train to Busan) Bin glanced to the other end of Hue’s small couch to see the girl herself, leaning over Sol, who was sitting on the floor in front of her, as she dug her fingers into the meat of the oldest girl’s shoulders as hard as she could, giggling as she did. Sol continually groaned with each dig of Hue’s fingers, but didn’t complain. Apparently they had made some bet about how many pictures they were going to end up selecting and Sol had won, hence why she was currently getting a shoulder massage from the younger.

Suddenly his view was obscured by Jiji, whoi wedged herself in the space left between Hue and Bin on the couch. She tilted a bag of chips she was holding (likely having raided it from Hue’s pantry) in his direction, offering him some. Bin accepted the offer, taking a handful.

“So,” she asked as she munched. “Did you find a roommate yet?”

Through a mouthful of chips Bin said, “technically yes, but no.”

Jiji made a questioning noise as his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, reading the name _flamin’ hot cheeto head_ and a text preview that read _we’re still on for next week right?_.

She shuffled closer, trying to look at the screen. “Is that them?”

Bin leaned back, tilting away from her prying eyes and typing back _yh bro at the usual place u know_ back before shoving his phone back into his jacket pocket. “No. But this guy applied and I approved him, but he wants to check out the apartment before he decides if he wants to move in or not,” he clarified.

“When is he coming? Should I come to make sure he’s not like, a serial killer or something?”

“I have muscles,” Bin defended childishly. “I could probably take him. Also if he’s a serial killer, then he’d kill both of us.” He leaned his head onto the back of the couch, tilting his head to look at Jiji. “I would rather just I die than the both of us. You have more life to live than I do.”

She put the hand that wasn’t stuffed into the chip bag over her chest, clutching at her shirt. “ _Heart attack,_ ” she mumbled, before giving Bin a look and placing her hand lightly on his cheek. “You’re gonna make me fall for you if you keep saying stuff like that.”

“That’s gross,” he giggled, slapping her hand away. “You’re like a little sister to me.”

“Wow. I can’t believe I just got rejected by _the_ Moon Bin. Sister-zoned, even.”

He shot her a finger gun. “Better believe it.”

Jiji elbowed Hue, twisting around. “Did you guys hear that? I just got sister-zoned.”

Sol rested her head on Hue’s knee, looking up at Jiji. “Yeah, Ji, we were literally sitting right here.”

“Rip Binji, 2017 through 2017,” Hue chimed in, “you didn’t last long, but you’ll be dearly missed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all the w1 members will probably have cameos as regular people in the rest of honey tea (except minhyun & sungwoon, who are still idols) just fyi
> 
> also here is an incomplete list of drinks Energetic sells:  
> \- _super hot_ : a hot americano  
> \- _dream girls_ : hot chocolate  
> \- _energetic_ : regular coffee with lots of flavored syrups and whipped cream  
> \- _energetic (remix)_ : the same as above, but made with espresso instead  
> \- _pick me (up)_ : an espresso  
> \- _very very very_ : a triple shot espresso  
> \- _all night kinda night_ : a cup of coffee made with beans from death wish coffee co.  
> \- _hands on me_ : coffee with a shot of alcohol of your choice
> 
> also who could "flamin' hot cheeto head" be (eyes emoji)


	5. 제 오 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> last chapter [Erisette](h) asked something i thought i should share with everyone: _In this universe was Moonbin still in Boys over Flowers and DBSK's Hug as a child actor? And does he still fanboy other groups or is it strictly Astro strictly professionally?_
> 
> 1\. yes! he was still a child actor, but it has been long enough that people very rarely recognize him  
> 2\. he does fanboy over other groups! but he views astro more professionally than the other groups he likes bc although he's a fansite, he just knew of them and of their music bc of sooah, so he wasnt really into them but still knew a lot about them. 
> 
> ( bonus fact: he and sooah used to do dance covers, but they both got too busy to keep up doing them consistently. they covered astro quite a few times)
> 
>  
> 
> also lets pretend chanhee still has orange hair okay lmao

Bin stared at his phone, sighing when it went to voicemail for the third time in a row. He brought the device up to his ear and waited for the automated voice to finish telling him that his friend wasn’t available and to leave a message before he began to leave small rant that had been formulating since the second time his call had went to voicemail.

“Kang Chanhee,” he started, “I swear to _God_ if you do not call me within the next five minutes, I am going to assume that you have been kidnapped by some crazy sasaengs and I will absolutely be calling the police. I understand it’s hard to hide your cheeto hair, but like, there are these things called beanies. I know you’ve heard of them. I’ve seen fantakens.” He rubbed at his face with his free hand. “Just call me before I call the police. Or better yet, I decide to leave because you’re taking too long. Then you’ll have to pay for your own meat. Or settle for some sad convenience store ramen, when you could’ve been having meat. I’m hanging up now. Get here safely, okay? Bye.”

He set his phone on the table and reached for the water pitcher, pouring some into his cup to drink. He sipped at it, glancing at his phone every now and then. Usually Chanhee would text him or something if he was going to be late. It was reaching around the the fifteen minute mark, which was starting to make Bin worry. What if Chanhee had actually been kidnapped by sasaengs? He had just been joking, but shit, what if it did happen?

He set down his cup and picked up his phone, opening KakaoTalk and his chat with Chanhee, beginning to type out a message.  

 

**[ definitely not idol kang chanhee of sf9 (2) ]**

**[ 22:42 ] one of jupiter’s moons, probably  
** i am being a nice hyung by texting u rn  
this is the contents of the voicemail i just left you:  
1\. call me in the next 5 mins  
2\. if you dont i will assume you've been kidnapped by sasaengs  
3\. i will call the police then bc sasaengs are fuckin crazy and i care for your wellbeing  
4\. beanies are a thing. use them to cover your bright ass head  
5\. show up before i leave & make u pay for ur own meat  
6\. get here in one piece okay

 **flamin’ hot cheeto head [ 22:47 ]  
** hyung chill  
there was a situation okay  
but i have not been kidnapped by sasaengs  
i’ll be there in two minutes  
also? why would i answer a phone call my voice would be a dead giveaway to sasaengs

 **[ 22:47 ] one of jupiter’s moons, probably  
** ok,,, u rite i didnt think about that  
just hurry up im hungry

 **flamin’ hot cheeto head [ 22:48 ]  
** yes hyung we’re going as fast as we can

 

“Kang Chanhee, you ungrateful brat,” Bin beamoned, waving his chopsticks in the direction of shock of orange hair walking towards the table he was sitting at, one tucked into the back of the barbeque place. “I can’t believe you forced me to take you out to dinner and you show upㅡ” He tapped the home button on his phone, reading _22:51_ before turning it in the younger boy’s direction. “You show up 24 minutes late. I was really starting to think you had been kidnapped by sasaengs. I was concerned for you well-being.”

“Like that would happen, Hyung,” Chanhee countered as he reached the table, rolling his eyes as he tugged his mask down under his chin. “You’ve seen how Seokwoo-hyung bullies me, I could get away no problem.”

“Yeah, okay,” Bin said skeptically as he retrieved some more silverware from the cup on their table. “Just remember, teenage girls are stronger than they look.”

He turned his attention to the boy behind Chanhee, ready to greet Youngkyun. He hadn’t seen the same-aged boy in quite a while; he usually only joined Chanhee on his outings to see Bin when there was a meal promised. (Bin was aware his friendship with Youngkyun was (mostly) solely based on food, but it wasn’t an issue; Bin loved food too, so he couldn’t blame him. He would also base a friendship solely on food.) But the person behind Chanhee wasn’t Youngkyun ㅡ he was too short.  Bin mentally went through the list of SF9 members, but none of those boys matched this mystery boy; they were all taller than the orange-haired boy, and this boy was matching in height to him.

“Sure, Hyung,” Chanhee said as sat down on one of the chairs, unzipping and pulling off his coat. It took him a moment to notice Bin staring at the yet-unnamed boy with a confused look on his face. The orange-haired boy cleared his throat, turning Bin’s attention to him. “Youngkyun-hyung couldn’t come today. So I brought someone else. I trained with him while I was at Fantagio, Parkㅡ”

“Minhyuk,” Bin finished. It had taken him all of twenty seconds of staring at this boy to figure out that he had seen him before, and five more to match the face to the name. This was...weird. Really weird. Probably the weirdest thing that had happened to Bin in the past six months. Weirder than Sol actually photoshopping him into a lineup of Astro at an award show to prove her point that he did realistically look like he could be a member of the group.  

Chanhee looked mildly surprised. Minhyuk, who taken the seat next to Chanhee but not yet removed his mask or coat, looked uncomfortable and tense, like he was waiting for Bin to pick up his phone and start taking pictures of him. “You know Minhyuk-hyung?” Chanhee asked.

Bin looked away from Minhyuk; he couldn’t stop himself from staring. There was no way this was actually happening. This was a dream. This was a prank. He must be hallucinating or something. Like seriously, what were the chances of this actually happening in real life? Not likely. Well, slightly more than likely, since he was friends with Chanhee, who happened to be an idol and had idol friends. But Chanhee, idol, being friends with and actually bringing the Park Minhyuk of Astro to dinner with him? Unheard of. Statistically impossible. (Actually, it was probably more than likely. Like, likely enough that it was happening right now. At this very moment. It was very much occuring.)

Bin realized he had been in his own thoughts and hadn’t yet responded to Chanhee’s question. He probably looked like an idiot. Or an awestruck fan. He wasn’t sure what was worse. “Oh! Um, yeah.  Kind of? Actually, not really. I don’t know how I would properly define our relationship, if I’m being honest?”

He didn’t know if Minhyuk recognized him or not. Bin had been to exactly two fansigns and was going to another next week, so it wasn’t like they’d meet that often. But, Bin was a male fan, and a fansite at that, so he was more likely to be remembered.

“I’m so sorry,” Bin started, turning to Minhyuk. “Like, this is really weird for me. I can’t believe how it must be for you.” He turned back to Chanhee. “I’m sorry man, but I think I should leave. But I’ll still pay for the meal, though, don’t worry,” he said, standing up and starting to reach for his coat. “We can just eat together some other time, okay? I’ll text you my schedule so we can find a good time.”

“No,” Minhyuk voiced quickly, standing up slightly. He hovered in the weird squatting above his hair position for a moment before he sat back down. “It’s okay. I’m just- this is… You’re right. It’s weird,” he admitted. “It’s weird to see fans outside of schedules. Even more so to actually meet and have a meal with them. But, you’re friends with Chanhee, so....”

Chanhee glanced between his hyungs. “Wait... I’m confused. What’s going on here”

Bin sat back down, and rubbed at the back of his neck nervously. “Well, remember how I said I had something I wanted to tell you? Uh, well, one of the things I wanted to tell you was that I became a fansite for Astro. Through lots of persuading and a small amount of blackmailing? Not for Minhyuk though, for Eunwoo. So this situation is a little weird for us.” Minhyuk nodded in agreement. “To be honest, I kind of feel like a sasaeng, even though you’re the one who brought him.”

Chanhee looked at Bin. “Is that how you feel when you hang out with me? Youngkyun-hyung?”

“No,” Bin answered immediately. “It’s- this- this is different. You and I have been friends since we were kids, so I’m used to it with you. Youngkyun and I have formed a tender friendship around food. I even have a vague pseudo-friendship with Taeyang-hyung, if you can believe it.

“Like I understand that you’re an idol so you’re bound to have other idol friends, but they’re just like an enigma to me. You could be like “ _oh yeah I hung out with Seolhyun-noona today_ ” and I’d be like “ _oh alright cool_ ’ but it’s just like something I can’t actually imagine it happening in real life because she is just an idol in my eyes? I don’t know her on a personal level.

“But between me and Minhyuk, we kind of know each other; we’ve met a few times. To use an analogy: it’s like he’s the CEO of a company ㅡ wait, no, Jin Jin would be the CEO since he’s the leader. You’d be like, someone who’s under the CEO but still important, like a department manager or something. I don’t know, I don’t know how big conglomerate companies work. Anyway ㅡ Minhyuk is like a coworker who is in a higher position and way cooler than me. I’m like an intern. There was no plan to see him outside of the office. But here he is, sitting right in front of me. And I’m going to be buying him meat.”

“That’s a really weird analogy, but I think I understand it,” Chanhee said as nodded sagely, eyebrows furrowed, before pushing himself up out of his seat. “Well, I’m going to go to tell the auntie we need our fire and meat, otherwise I don’t think we’re ever going to eat. Be right back.”

At that, Bin pleaded to Chanhee with eyes not to leave him alone at the table with Minhyuk, but his message was either not received or purposely ignored because the youngest left the table without a single glance back.

“I canㅡ” Minhyuk started as soon as Chanhee was out of earshot.

“No,” Bin cut him off. “I’m the eldest here, I should treat you, since you came all the way here. You don’t have to go. I’m...this is still weird. I think I can get past it though. We’ll be seeing each other often, so it'd be better to be comfortable with each other, right?” He eyed the younger. He seemed more relaxed than he was several minutes ago. “Also, you can relax, y’know. Take your coat off, stay for a while.”

Minhyuk glanced down dumbly, like he had forgotten he was even wearing his coat. He muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like _oh, yeah_ before he tugged his mask down under his chin and unzipped his coat, sliding out of the sleeves.

And then an awkward silence descended upon them. Without Chanhee acting as their buffer, their limited number of potential conversation topics had dwindled down to zero. Why did they have to both be so polite to each other and not let each other leave? This could have been avoided. Bin could’ve been at a convenience store by now, eating the finest cuisine 7/11 had to offer; Minhyuk could’ve been enjoying the meat that was soon to be brought to their table and have a nice dinner with their mutual friend.

“I’m sorry,” Bin said, suddenly desperate to get rid of the suffocating silence that was surrounding them.

Minhyuk looked a little taken aback and a lot confused. He asked, “what are you sorry for?”

“I just feel like I should apologize.”

“You don’t need to apologize. You didn't do anything wrong.”

“I know, but I still feel like I should be apologizing for something. You were obviously uncomfortable when you saw me, so Chanhee probably didn't tell you he was meeting me before inviting you along. I'm going to apologize on his behalf for being such a horrible friend so I have something to apologize for.” He cleared his throat, dipping his head slightly, like he was about to deliver a sincere apology, but his mouth betrayed him, “I'm sorry Kang Chanhee is the literal worst dongsaeng in the history of dongsaengs. Like, ever.”

Minhyuk snorted, hand shooting up to cover his mouth before he said, “he could be worse, to be honest. I know you've met Sanha; he's like a twenty times worse than Chanhee, at least.”

Bin thought about it. “You know, you’re probably right. He does seem like a quite handful.”

This time, a more comfortable silence settled between them.

But luckily Chanhee returned shortly after (saving them to have to scramble to think of another topic for conversation), trailing behind the owner, who was carrying a bucket of coals towards the table. She plucked the grate off with a pair of tongs as soon as she arrived at the table and dropped the bucket in its designated spot in the middle of the table with practiced ease. She replaced the grate and pulled down the vent, shooting the boys a warm and motherly smile; Bin and Chanhee were practically her children at this point, having visiting the restaurant a numerous amount of times over the years that they’d been in Seoul.  

“Your meat’ll be out in a minute,” she told them and they chorused a _thank you_ as she retreated from their table.

“So how did you end up becoming a fansite master?” Chanhee asked as he took his seat again, leaning forward on his elbows. “I’m genuinely curious as to how this happened.”

“Well, Sooah couldn’t do it anymore so she handed it off to me,” Bin admitted. “I don’t really remember how exactly she convinced me to do it but I know there was some blackmail and at least one attempt at bribery. Which, I mean, is understandable, since she is kind of a popular fansite? All her hard work would have been for nothing. Well, not nothing, but like, she would have just disappeared at the height of her career ㅡ kind of the the Avatar vanishing when the world needed him most. If anything, I’m just continuing on her legacy. I’m Aang in this hypothetical situation that is very much real.”

As Bin talked, the meat and side dishes had started arrived at their table. Bin had taken to organizing the side dishes and sauces so there was room for everything while Minhyuk passed out the rice and poured water for everyone at the table and Chanhee picked up the tongs and started laying their pork belly onto the grate.

As Bin talked, the meat and side dishes had started arrived at their table. Bin had taken to organizing the side dishes and sauces so there was room for everything while Minhyuk passed out the rice and poured water for everyone at the table and Chanhee picked up the tongs and started laying their pork belly onto the grate.

“Makes sense,” Chanhee said as he lifted another piece of meat from the plate and moved it to the grate. “So are you still working at the coffee shop then?” Bin hummed an affirmative as helped move some garlic onto the outer edge of the grate. “What about Sooah? Why couldn’t she do it anymore?”

“Sooah?” Minhyuk asked, contributing to the conversation for the first time.

“My younger sister,” Bin supplied. “She became a trainee.”

“Really?” Chanhee asked, glancing up from meat duty. “What company is she at?”

“I don’t know if I’m at liberty to say but I’m going to tell you anyway because you’re probably going to find out anyway. Please be prepared to be shocked and awed once I announce the company name.” Bin paused for dramatic effect before he started grinning like a proud parent. “The Moon Sooah is a trainee at none other than YG Entertainment.”

Chanhee let out a low whistle while Minhyuk mouthed a _wow_.

“I know, I was shocked too.” He pointed his chopsticks accusingly at Chanhee. “Did you know she didn’t even tell me she was going to auditions and that she got in until like two weeks before she was set to move into the dorms?” Bin shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

“So is she going for a dance position then?” Chanhee asked as he motioned for the scissors next to Bin with a grabby hand.

Bin shrugged as he handed him the scissors. “I don’t know. She told me she wants to try out rapping, so we’ll see how that goes. She’ll probably fall back on dance though, it’s her strongest point.”

“Dance is her natural strong suit,” Chanhee agreed. “To be honest, it is for both of you. I’m surprised you haven’t auditioned for an entertainment company yet. Like, why not get paid for doing what you love? It’s a win-win.”

“I just don’t have the time or money to do it right now, especially . And I still want to finish school, too. Plus, aren’t I a little old to become a trainee now?”

“You dance?” Minhyuk asked, disregarding everything that just came out of Bin’s mouth, except for the last sentence. “Also, you could join a company as a backup dancer or choreographer, if you don’t want to be an idol.”

“Oh, you bet he dances,” Chanhee said, quickly setting down the tongs and scissors to fish his phone out of his coat pocket. Minhyuk leaned over to watch the screen as Chanhee started typing; Bin all but shot across the table, almost hitting the vent as he grabbed Chanhee’s phone.

“No, no, no. Nope. What you were about do just now is not happening. Not ever. Never, for as long as I live.” Bin shoved the phone into the his pocket of his hoodie, out of Chanhee’s reach, and sat back down.

Chanhee rolled his eyes as he picked the tongs and scissors back up again before he leaned closer to Minhyuk to stage whisper, “he's just embarrassed because he doesn't want you to see his Astro covers.”

“Oh?” Minhyuk turned to face Bin. “What songs of ours did you cover?”

Bin avoided the younger boy’s gaze and busied himself with building a wrap, picking up a leaf and grabbing piece of meat from the grate with his chopsticks. “None of them. Absolutely zero. I'm deleting the channel as we speak.”

But Chanhee was relentless, continuing to speak. “Almost all of them, I think. What was the name of the channel again?” He paused, making a mock thinking face. “It was something to do with moons, I’m pretty sure. It shouldn’t be that hard to find, since you know what Bin-hyung looks like.”

“Shut up and eat this wrap, you literal demon,” Bin said, leaning across the table to shove the wrap into Chanhee’s mouth as he opened to speak again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the name of bin and sooah's dance cover channel is "blue moon" (it's a play on their surname and the fact that if a full moon happens twice in a month it's called a blue moon)


	6. 제 육 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is just a twitter chapter! sorry to disappoint if u were hoping for an actual chapter :(
> 
> but in this chap you're going to see more fansites (for all the boys!), some gossip, and general shenanigans in this chapter~ (sorry to mare and lucy for kind of(?) decieving u and getting u to make up fansites for me lmao) 
> 
> basically you should read this chapter like a third party in the story! like ur just scrolling down ur twitter timeline
> 
> (also let's pretend dispatch and yss.com run gossip magazine-esque twitters,,,,)

**JIJI / SKYLIGHT** @skylight_330  
i didnt get into the busan fansign :-(  
**195 replies, 103 retweets, 4.3k likes**

 **아스트로 ✔**  @offclASTRO  
You’re looking forward to the fan tomorrow, right? Don’t forget to dress warmly! Eat lots of good food!! #Rocky #RockySwag #RockD [picture]  
**957 replies, 4k retweets 16.1k likes**

> **Tiny Pebble** @TinyPebblePMH  
>  **@** **offclASTRO** wow i love One (1) man
> 
> **마녀 배달부 키키의 지지 아니야** @yoojisuuuuuuuuuu  
>  **@offclASTRO** oh sweet thanks for the tunes man  
> 
> **rocky’s lil ponytail** @parkpebble  
>  **@offclASTRO** I LOVE U ROCKY

**space is fuckin wild** @jupitersmoonbin  
oh Fuck i just realized i am seeing Him tomorrow  
**0 replies, 0 retweets, 6 likes**

 **space is fuckin wild** @jupitersmoonbin  
god i hope it's not awkward between us  
**0 replies, 0 retweets, 5 likes**

 **space is fuckin wild** @jupitersmoonbin  
i mean we're kinda friends right?  
**0 replies, 0 retweets, 5 likes**

 **secretly loona’s hyunjin?** @ninetyeightjinnie  
Who is He tho? (eyes emoji)  
**1 reply, 2 retweets, 7 likes**

> **secretly loona’s hyunjin?** @ninetyeightjinnie  
>  Time 2 put on my sleuthing hat

**YSSNEWS 연습생뉴스 ✔**  @YSSNEWS  
YG Entertainment trainees (?) spotted leaving Aori Ramen and outside the YG building with BlackPink! See photos and read more: [link]  
**96k replies, 102k retweets, 322k likes**

> **model lisa is my aesthetic** @lalalalalisa  
>  **@YSSNEWS** Oh my god that’s so cute
> 
> **im Ultra Gay for Ms Jennie Kim** @jjjennies  
>  **@YSSNEWS** do u think bp treated them? anyway everyone’s lookin 12/10 a+ whole ass snacks
> 
> **i’m in love with one woman (kim jisoo)** @kimjisooooooos  
>  **@YSSNEWS @jjjennies** u rite,,, but who’s that boy on the left tho like (eyes emoji)
> 
> **drinking some nice ass wine** @chaeyounggarden  
>  **@YSSNEWS @jjjennies @kimjisooooooos** He could be a YG K+ trainee!

**CODE33 | 휴(휴휴)** @CODEW33  
Busan fansign tomorrow w/ the squad **@starboyEW @honeytea97330** (minus **@skylight_330** bc she didn’t get in :( )! Who thinks I’ll beat **@starboyEW** in rock paper scissors for that Eunwoo fancam?  
**103 replies, 200 retweets, 1.2k likes**

> **JIJI / SKYLIGHT** @skylight_330  
>  **@CODEW33 @starboyEW @honeytea97330** I’ll miss you guys :-( Take good pics!!!
> 
> **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴)** @CODEW33  
>  **@skylight_330** I miss ur presence already :((
> 
> **Tiny Pebble** @TinyPebblePMH  
>  **@CODEW33** omg cant wait 2 see u get destroyed in rock paper scissors in person
> 
> **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴)** @CODEW33  
>  **@TinyPebblePMH** How could u betray me like this
> 
> **╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차** @honeytea97330  
>  **@skylight_330** who will protect me from **@CODEW33** ’s bullying now?
> 
> **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴)** @CODEW33  
>  **@honeytea97330 @skylight_330** hEY,,, that's how i show my love u ungrateful little man

**eunwoo’s laugh** @astrofireworks_  
Hey can someone spot me couple thousand won so i can try and get into an astro fansign thanks  
**4 replies, 52 retweets, 43 likes**

 **eunwoo’s laugh** @astrofireworks_  
how much does a human kidney sell for on the black market, asking for a friend  
**7 replies, 78 retweets, 57 likes**

 **☆sol | starboy☆** @starboyEW  
if **@CODEW33** actually wins rock paper scissors tomorrow i will treat her, **@skylight_330** , & **@honeytea97330** to dumplings and boba  
**32 replies, 75 retweets, 204 likes**

> **╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차** @honeytea97330  
>  **@starboyEW @CODEW33** you have to win now
> 
> **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴)** @CODEW33  
>  **@starboyEW** Sol-unnie how could you do this to me
> 
> **JIJI / SKYLIGHT** @skylight_330  
>  **@starboyEW @CODEW33** you can do it unnie! i believe you!!
> 
> **CODE33 | 휴(휴휴)** @CODEW33  
>  **@starboyEW @skylight330** You just want free food
> 
> **JIJI / SKYLIGHT** @skylight_330  
>  **@starboyEW @CODEW33** you are correct

**the fucking sun** @96kimseola  
I think this barista is trying to hit on me why  
**2 replies, 1 retweet, 19 likes**

> **space is fuckin wild** @jupitersmoonbin  
>  **@96kimseola** is it jaehwan again
> 
> **the fucking sun** @96kimseola  
>  **@jupitersmoonbin** is this what i get for becoming a cafe regular

**the fucking sun** @96kimseola  
no thanks, i’m fuckin gay!!!  
**6 replies, 32 retweets, 43 likes**

 **CHILL (CHILL CHILL)** @chill777kjw  
real talk should i bring a fake bug to the fansign tomorrow  
**1.2k replies, 2.2k retweets, 7.2k likes**

 **CHILL (CHILL CHILL)** @chill777kjw  
or do you still think they’re traumatized from that cicada  
**2.4k replies, 5.1k retweets, 10k likes**

 **THE 優** @THEEXCELLENCE  
Sanha I love you but if i get one more of your photocards I swear  
**433 replies, 6k retweets, 20.2k likes**

> **JIJI / SKYLIGHT** @skylight_330  
>  **@THEEXCELLENCE** how many so far
> 
> **THE 優** @THEEXCELLENCE  
>  **@skylight_330** 10/16, and i still have 24 more left to open
> 
> **JIJI / SKYLIGHT** @skylight_330  
>  **@THEEXCELLENCE** rest in fucking pieces
> 
> **First Point | ㄹㅅㄹ** @FirstPointYSH  
>  **@THEEXCELLENCE @skylight_330** idk what y’all are talking abt this is a blessing
> 
> **THE 優** @THEEXCELLENCE  
>  **@FirstPointYSH** we can’t all be sanha biased

**╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차** @honeytea97330  
okay! time to vote on what you want me to bring to the fansign tomorrow!

  1. food 43%
  2. headbands 12%
  3. bubble gun 42%
  4. other 3%



**2.4k replies, 5.1k retweets, 10k likes**

**CHILL (CHILL CHILL)** @chill777kjw  
NEW PLAN: that shock gum thing. u know the one  
**3k replies, 2.3k retweets, 15k likes**

> **Oh, My Honey!** @ohmyhoneyKMJ  
>  **@chill777kjw** Why are you the Literal Devil

**마녀 배달부 키키의 지지 아니야** @yoojisuuuuuuuuuu  
will i ever get tired of watching eunwoo dance to up  & down? the answer is no  
**0 replies, 10 retweets, 20 likes**

 **마녀 배달부 키키의 지지 아니야** @yoojisuuuuuuuuuu  
like how does he flip that switch from being embarrassed to killing it  
**0 replies, 7 retweets, 17 likes**

 **Oh, My Honey!** @ohmyhoneyKMJ  
On a dinner date with Actual Literal Satan **@chill777kjw** [picture]  
**22 replies, 100 retweets, 500 likes**

> **CHILL (CHILL CHILL)** @chill777kjw  
>  **@ohmyhoneyKMJ** hEY
> 
> **First Point | ㄹㅅㄹ** @FirstPointYSH  
>  **@ohmyhoneyKMJ** roast **@chill777kjw** she deserves it
> 
> **Oh, My Honey!** @ohmyhoneyKMJ  
>  **@FirstPointYSH** Thanks for the support
> 
> **CHILL (CHILL CHILL)** @chill777kjw  
>  **@ohmyhoneyKMJ @FirstPointYSH** how could u 2 this 2 me

**디스파치 뉴스** @dispatchkr  
ASTRO’s Rocky and SF9’s Chani spotted out eating late last night with a mystery boy! Could he be a Fantagio trainee? An FNC trainee? See for yourself in this article: [link]  
**48k replies, 57k retweets, 61k likes**

> **rocky’s lil ponytail** @parkpebble  
>  **@dispatchkr** really out here reaching a new low
> 
> **rihanna is a pisces too,, coincidence?** @myeongjoons  
>  **@dispatchkr** did u run out of celebrity relationships to report on or smth?
> 
> **youngbin’s tragic mullet** @SupercaliFragilistic9  
>  hey **@dispatchkr** what the fuck
> 
> **how do u survive being multifandom** @leeeesoraaan  
>  **@dispatchkr** u know idols have regular friends too right
> 
> **마녀 배달부 키키의 지지 아니야** @yoojisuuuuuuuuuu  
>  hey **@ninetyeightjinnie @96kimseola** did you guys see this
> 
> **mina loves taeyang** @uyutaeyang  
>  **@dispatchkr** hey isnt that the same guy from that article **@YSSNEWS** posted earlier ?
> 
> **a bitch (me) is stupid** @jaeinnie  
>  **@dispatchkr @YSSNEWS @uyutaeyang** oh holy shit it does look like him

**i shouldn't even be on twitter tbh** @dancinginmoonlight  
I walk my ass all the way to a pc bang to check my twitter and this is literally the first thing i see  
**0 replies, 0 retweets, 15 likes**

 **i shouldn’t even be on twitter tbh** @dancinginmoonlight  
this just in: i’m going to fight **@dispatchkr** ?  
**7 replies, 67 retweets, 100 likes**

> **eunwoo’s laugh** @astrofireworks_  
>  **@dancinginmoonlight** the biggest mood?
> 
> **mina loves taeyang** @uyutaeyang  
>  **@dancinginmoonlight** did u see what **@yssnews** posted too?
> 
> **i shouldn’t even be on twitter tbh** @dancinginmoonlight  
>  **@uyutaeyang** **@yssnews** too? I’m-
> 
> **i shouldn’t even be on twitter tbh** @dancinginmoonlight  
>  actually u know what, im gonna every gossip news site in general
> 
> **secretly loona’s hyunjin?** @ninetyeightjinnie  
>  **@dancinginmoonlight** A whole ass fucking mood
> 
> **secretly loona’s hyunjin?** @ninetyeightjinnie  
>  **@dancinginmoonlight** I’ll help

**a bitch (me) is stupid** @jaeinnie  
Whomst is this mystery boy and why does he hang out with so many idols and trainees like  
**10 replies, 67 retweets, 49 likes**  

 **a bitch (me) is stupid** @jaeinnie  
I should start a campaign 2 find out who this man is  
**14 replies, 70 retweets, 62 likes**  

 **a bitch (me) is stupid** @jaeinnie  
it had been decided, the hashtag is: #whoisblackjackettrainee  
**35 replies, 79 retweets, 49 likes**  

 **a bitch (me) is stupid** @jaeinnie  
together we will find out #whoisblackjackettrainee lmao  
**63 replies, 109 retweets, 73 likes**

 **space is fuckin wild** @jupitersmoonbin  
why is my life A Mess  
**0 replies, 15 retweets, 23 likes**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hmmmm,,,, some of those non-fansite @'s and twitter names seem a bit familiar,,, don't they,,,,,,,,,,,,
> 
> also just for the record, bin took sooah and some of the trainees she had made friends with out for ramen, and they happened to run into bp as they were leaving so they all went back to the building together.
> 
> (and just a reminder that u can come talk 2 me on my [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/peachtones)!!)
> 
> (okay i'm done goodbye until next time i love u all)


	7. 제 칠 정

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time for another fansign!!!! finally!!!!!! sorry it took so long!!! i have no excuses!!!
> 
> also, the results of the polls were:  
> 1\. what you wanted bin to bring to the fansign was: the bubble gun!! (with 56% of the votes; food was second at 24%)  
> 2\. your favorite (ot3) fansite is: jiji!!! who, although i shouldn't pick favorites, is my fave masternim too (but hue is the most fun to write)! (with 47% of the votes; sol had 29%, and hue had 24%)  
> 3\. your favorite (non-ot3) fansite is: chill (chill chill)!! who we get to see this chapter! (with 27% of the votes; everyone else had 18% individually)
> 
> also, please look at [this calendar](https://twitter.com/peachtoneau/status/993572452751085577) i made so u can get a sense of the honey tea timeline thus far! (i forgot 2 mention on the calendar that between ch3 and ch5 (so, before bin actually met minhyuk) the gang went to two more fansigns. so bin isn't exactly strangers w/ astro anymore!)

**[ pls support baby moon’s debut (5) ]**

**the light of our lives [ 08:42 ]  
** im sad i couldnt come with you guys :((

 **the bane of our existence [ 08:42 ]  
** :(((((((((

 **mother figure [ 08:43 ]  
** at least you’re saving money ji

 **the bane of our existence [ 08:43 ]  
** You say, to the girl who constantly gets acrylic nails

 **the light of our lives [ 08:43 ]  
** ssHHH hue let me have simple pleasures in life

 **the bane of our existence [ 08:43 ]  
** Speaking of simple pleasures  
Bin where the fuck are you

 **[ 08:44 ] big moon  
** Im onmew  
jaehwan rdopped a bafg of beans and i coudltn just leaev  
Also itssre ally hard to gytpe with one ahnd

 **the bane of our existence [ 08:44 ]  
** That sounds like a you problem  
Just dont drop our coffee thanks xo

 **the light of our lives [ 08:45 ]  
** ok i have to leave for class now!!  
but!! have fun take good pics i miss you all  
♡♡♡♡

 **mother figure [ 08:45 ]  
** ♡♡♡

 **the bane of our existence [ 08:45 ]  
** Have a good day bb!! (´∀｀)♡

 **[ 08:46 ] big moon  
** ahve fun in class jijii !

 **the light of our lives [ 08:46 ]  
** i wont but thanks

 

“Oh my god, _finally_ ,” Hue sighed when she spotted Bin enter the station, a drink carrier in one hand and his phone in the other. She stood up from the seat she had taken on the bench next to Sol, cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “yo! _Honey Tea!_ Over here!”

Sol hit Hue’s thigh with her book, muttering something that sounded like _god why do you feel the need to be so loud, we’re in a public place_. Hue stuck her tongue out at the older as she waved to try and catch Bin’s attention when he looked up from his phone. It worked, Bin weaving through people to read the bench that his fellow fansite masters had claimed as theirs. Sol finally closed her book, groaning as she stood up.

“One day we’re actually going to be late to something because of you, Binnie,” Sol complained as Hue pulled a paper bag out of her backpack and shoved it into Bin’s chest before zipping it up and pulling it on.

She patted the bag and said, “here’s your breakfast.”

“Oh, thanks,” Bin said, pressing the bag against his chest with the hand he was using to hold his phone, before addressing Sol. “I know, but I couldn’t just leave Jaehwan there to do orders _and_ clean up the beans. Jisung was running late and there was like, half a bag on the floor in the back.” He extended the drink tray towards the girls. “Sol-noona, yours is on the left, Hue, yours is in the front.”

“We should start heading towards our terminal,” Sol told them as she pulled her cup from the tray, turning on her heel, taking the stopper out of the lid to take a drink as she started walking into the bustle of the train station. “I still need to buy our lunchboxes.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Hue said, taking her own cup out of the tray and trailing after the elder.

Bin took the remaining cup out of the tray, disposing of the holder before lightly jogging to catch up with the girls. “So what’s on the menu for breakfast today?” he asked Hue, trying to find a way to see what was in the bag without dropping his phone or his coffee.

Hue, after watching him struggle for a moment, rolled her eyes and took his coffee cup from his. “Fish bread and a breakfast sandwich from the best food stall between my house and the train station. If you had arrived in a punctual manner, they probably would’ve been warmer, but you didn’t, so.”

Bin shrugged, shoving his phone into his pants and opening the paper bag. He pulled the fish bread out and took a rather large bite out of it, “lukewarm food is better than no food.”

“Well, you’re not wrong,” she said, handing him back his coffee when he made a grabby hand for it. He shoved the rest of the bread into his mouth, both of his cheeks puffing up. “You look like a chipmunk.”

“A cute chipmunk,” he said, somehow, through the mouthful of bread and red bean.

“If that’s what you wanna call it, sure.”

Bin made an offended noise, almost choking as he tried to swallow.

“If you’re going to die, please do it before I buy the lunchboxes,” Sol chimed in.

Hue hooked her arm around Bin’s shoulders, swaying against him as they walked, “but if he dies he won’t get to see the boy he was vagueing about on Twitter yesterday. I gotta know how this plays out, so he better not.”

Bin actually choked this time, although on his coffee instead of the fish bread. Hue gave him a disgusted look as coffee dribbled down his chin. Sol handed him a napkin produced from seemingly nowhere and he muttered a _thanks_ before looking at Hue, “why were you stalking me on Twitter?”

She scoffed, “it’s not considered stalking if I see your tweets on my timeline. Which happens to literally every person who follows you on Twitter ― I am one of said followers, hence why I saw the tweets. So are you going to tell us about this boy or do I have to do some actual detective work to find out who he is? Should I ask Moonie?” She hummed, squinting down at him. “You two are really close, she’d probably know something.”

“Why are you like this?” he asked rhetorically.

Hue was oblivious to the rhetoric, “because I take it upon myself to get involved in my friends’ business, okay? I like to know what’s going on with them.” Her eyes twinkled. “Like how Ji has been confessed to twice in the past three weeks but turned them both down because having a relationship would cut too much into her school and Eunwoo time. And you know that Jaehwan kid you work with? He thinks I’m Sol’s girlfriend, because she got tired of him trying to lowkey flirt with her.” She squeezed his shoulder, sighing as she brought her cup to her lips, “honestly, I think he’s a little scared of me since I’m taller than him. I was wearing heeled boots that day, so I was like, 193 centimeters. Very intimidating, if I do say so myself.” She took a long drag of her coffee before purposely swaying them as they walked. “So, Binnie, it’s only right I know something about your love life, too.”

Bin side-eyed her. “What love life?”

Sol snorted in front of them, trying to cover it up with a cough.

“C’mon, there’s got to be something. Suitors have to be lining up in front of Energetic just get coffee made by the Moon Bin. Or to, you know, oogle you.” She purposely dug her fingers into the meat of his shoulder, “flaunt these muscles, man.”

Sol suddenly stopped walking and turned around to face them. “While this talk about Bin’s nonexistent love life is just absolutely riveting, I’m going to get the lunchboxes,” she pointed to the little shop they had stopped in front of, before giving Hue a pointed look. “Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.”

“Okay, first of all, that wasn’t my fault and you know it,” Hue protested.

“Do I even want to know?” Bin asked as Sol ignored the younger and entered the shop.

“Probably not,” she said as she steered them to the nearest bench so they could sit down. She took her arm back, leaning forward to place her head in her hand as she rested her elbow against her knee, raising her eyebrows at Bin. “But anyways, tell me about this Twitter boy of yours.”

“He’s not mine,” Bin defended,  finally taking the breakfast sandwich out of the bag and taking a bite of it, “and I’m not telling you anything.”

She pouted, whining, “ _come on_.”

He shook his head, munching on the sandwich.

“You know I’m only asking you first before I start trying to dig stuff up, right?”

Bin laughed, “that’s a lie. I’m your last resort, I know you already scoured my Twitter to try and find anything about him. You didn’t find anything, so you have to ask me directly.”

She curled up her lip and huffed out a breath, bringing her cup to her mouth in defeat. “Well, at least I know there _is_ a boy. I just gotta get you to crack now, trick you into slipping up and telling me something by accident. Or I could ask Sooah?”

“She doesn’t know anything,” Bin assured, “she’s too busy right now, I didn’t want to bother her.”

Hue eyed him skeptically. “Sounds fake, but okay.”

“It’s the truth! She's got enough to worry about right now, I don't want to unload my problems on her.”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine." She pointed an accusing finger at him, "but obviously you have to be meeting this boy today, as per the tweets from yesterday. And it has to be after the fansign, unless you’re like, meeting him before the fansign. Or at the fansign. Both are unlikely, so it’s probably after. Am I hot or am I cold?”

Bin just stared at her; she sighed. “Come on, you’ve got to give me something here. How about we play 20 Questions?”

"I just told you I wasn't going to tell you anything. What makes you think I'll play 20 Questions with you?"

Hue groaned, grabbing onto Bin's arm and shaking it rather obnoxiously. "You want me to suffer, don't you?"

"Yes," he said flatly. She groaned again ― louder, whinier, and more obnoxious than the last time, shaking him with more force. He groaned back, a noise of annoyance, trying to shake Hue off of him.

She pouted. "Come _onnnn_. Can't you just give me three questions? Only three, I won't ask any more."

"No," he said, relief flooding his system as he saw Sol walking out of the store. He stood up, trying to pry Hue off of him as he did and as soon she got within hearing range of them he whined, “Sol-noona, Hue is bullying me."

“And?” Sol asked, raising her eyebrows at him as she shoved her wallet back into her bag, “what do you want me to do about it? I’m not in charge of her, she can do what she wants.”

Hue stuck her tongue out at Bin before she unlatched herself from his arm to wrap her arms around Sol's shoulders, rocking the older back and forth. “Unnie, I love you.”

"Thanks," the older said, tone flat. "We should probably go though, or we're really gonna miss our train."

"Lead the way," Hue said, using her height to her advantage as she turned towards the direction of the terminal to drag Sol with her, but not before she mouthed _this conversation isn’t over_ to Bin over Sol’s head.

 

 

**[ if my nightmares manifested in a 164cm girl (2) ]**

**namsan tower [ 12:49 ]  
** Is ur boy here?

 **[ 12:49 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
**???

 **namsan tower [ 12:49 ]  
** I wish you could hear the sigh I just let out  
Your twitter boy  
The one u wont tell me anything about

 **[ 12:49 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** im pleading the fifth

 **namsan tower [ 12:50 ]  
** This is Korea that doesn’t work here  
Try harder next time  
Now tell me, is he here? (eyes emoji)

 **[ 12:50 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** why?? would he be here  
didnt u say earlier that that was probably unlikely

 **namsan tower [ 12:50 ]  
** That was just speculation  
Also the fact u wanted to plead the fifth? Sus  
So he probably is here

 **[ 12:50 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** …

 **namsan tower [ 12:51 ]  
** Then I am correct!  
Is it Eunwoo?

 **[ 12:51 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** why would u think that???

 **namsan tower [ 12:51 ]  
** (eyes emoji)  
I have eyes  
I see how you 2 interact  
(eyes emoji) (eyes emoji) (eyes emoji)

 **[ 12:51 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** wdym

 **namsan tower [ 12:51 ]  
** Don’t tell me ur really this dense  
I’m like 82% sure he’s subtly trying to flirt w/ u through sticky notes  
Lowkey wish that was me he was flirting w/ tbh

 **[ 12:52 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** i thought doyeon u wanted doyeon to flirt with you  
gasp  
are u cheating on her

 **namsan tower [ 12:52 ]  
** Shut up let my bi ass live okay  
Also u avoided the subject it has to be Eunwoo who else would u be seeing today I know for a fact u got like zero friends  
And your roommate who we’ve yet to meet doesnt count

 **[ 12:52 ] a bunch of small watermelons  
** im closing the chat goodbye

 **namsan tower [ 12:53 ]  
** Fine, but look at the balcony b4 you ignore me for the rest of the fansign

 

Bin sighed, looking up from his phone and turning around to look up at the balcony; he had been lucky enough to draw a number that left him on the ground floor, almost in the middle of the seating. Hue and Sol hadn’t been as lucky, getting numbers that seated them on the upper floor, only separated by a handful of seats between them. The senior fansite masters had been reluctant to leave him by himself, but he assured them that after three fansigns, he had gotten used to the routine and would be okay without their guidance. He’d gotten a squeeze on the shoulder from Sol and a (strong) pat on the back from Hue before they went to go find their seats.

Hue waved her hands back and forth so Bin could find her, before making the hand gestures for _rock, paper_ , and _scissors_ . He rolled his eyes, motioning for her to get on with it. Hue (unnecessarily) stood on her seat so Sol could see her with the people sitting between them and proceeded to initiate their routine game of rock, paper, scissors for their Eunwoo fancam. In a surprising turn on events, Hue was the one who won this time; she jumped off her seat, holding her hand up as she shouted in triumph before pointed at Bin and mouthed _dumplings, baby!_ Bin rolled his eyes again, this time with more force. Hue stuck her tongue out a him before sitting down and beginning to set up her tripod.

He looked back down at his phone, opened his chat with Sol (named _jaehwan-hyung's mortal enemy_ ) and sent her a message that read _so did u let hue win or,_ followed by _bc we both know she only throws scissors_ before chancing a glance back up to the balcony. Sol looked up from her own phone, found him in the crowd, and proceeded to point a him and mime slicing her neck with her thumb, which Bin could only take to mean _if you value your life, you won't tell Hue_. _If you do, the police won't be able to identify your body after I murder you._ Okay, maybe that was a bit extreme, but she was giving him one hell of a glare.

"Those your friends?" the girl in the seat to the right of him (the girl in the seat left of him was writing on a pad of sticky notes as fast as she humanly could) asked, breaking him out of his staring death match with Sol. She had an amused smile on her lips and a twinkle in her eyes ― she kind of reminded him of Hue, weirdly.

"Uh- oh, yeah," Bin admitted, slightly embarrassed, as his hand shot up to rub the back of his neck.

"Must be nice," the girl sighed, although she didn't sound too sad. "I only have one fansite friend, and she refuses to associate with me in public."

"I am...tempted to ask why."

"Honestly, you probably don't want to know." She took a hand off of her camera and held it out to Bin, "I'm CHILL, by the way. Well, CHILL, CHILL CHILL. But that's a lot of _chill_ s, so I usually just introduce with one. Anyways, I take pictures of Jinwoo."

He shook her hand, "Honey Tea, for Eunwoo. Or, Dongmin, I guess."

"Nice to meet you," she said, grinning at him.

"Likewise," he said, returning a small smile.

“Want a piece of gum?” she asked, offering him a piece from the pack of gum she seemingly pulled out of nowhere.

“I’m good."

“You sure?” she insisted.

Then again, Bin's breath probably smelled like _tonkatsu_ he had for lunch and the weird boba that Hue bought and made him try and the way from the train station to the venue. Not really a good combination. So he grabbed the proffered piece of gum, only to get shocked when he tried to pull it out of the package. He hissed out a curse and pulled his hand to his chest, giving CHILL a dirty look as she tried to contain her laughter.

“That's mean,” he hissed, "I see why people don't want to associate with you."

CHILL just shrugged. "Just be glad I didn't drop the fake bug I brought on the ground and pretend to look for it, only to point at it and wait for someone to notice and scream."

"I take it back, you're not mean, you're _evil_."

Not long after that, the event started, Astro shuffling out onto the stage and greeting the fans, waving and asking the usual slew of questions. CHILL, after noticing the order the boys decided to sit in (JinJin in the first seat, Rocky next to him, Sanha in the middle, Eunwoo after him, and MJ at the end) suggested that she and Bin switch seats so they wouldn't get in each other's way while shooting their respective boys. He agreed, since CHILL did have a rather large lens attached to her camera ― he didn't want to them to bump into each other and potentially damage hundreds of thousands of won worth of equipment just because they weren't as spatially aware as they should be while taking pictures.

They switched seats while the first row of people were sent up to the boys without having to worry about fans (or other fansites) around them getting annoyed at the two for blocking their view(s) since they were seated in the last row on the ground floor (which also meant they could stand instead of sitting while taking pictures).

Somehow the two of them shuffling around each other attracted the attention of Eunwoo, who had been waving up at Aroha that were on the balcony as he waited for the first person in line to reach him. When Bin looked back towards the front of the venue Eunwoo was staring at him. Or, well, in his direction. He could have easily been staring at the group of Aroha seated in front of him, or at the back wall of the venue. But as they made eye contact, Eunwoo smiled and waved at him. Bin returned the smile before lifting his camera and snapping pictures of him, Eunwoo posing obligingly.

CHILL, apparently, had been doing the same with MJ, but minus the posing on demand that Eunwoo had so graciously gifted him with. As Bin lowered his camera he asked, “I thought you said you were a Jinwoo fansite?”

“I am,” CHILL said, doing the same as him. “I’m making a Myungjun photobook for the friend who refuses to associate with me in public.” She dropped into her seat, glancing up at Bin. “See, I’m not completely evil.”

“That is up for debate,” he disagreed.

He spent the time in between waiting for his row to be called up and taking pictures of Eunwoo when no one was in front of him arguing about whether or not CHILL should bring the fake bug with her when it was their time to go up (Bin’s stance was a firm _no, don’t do that, I don’t want to lose hearing in right ear,_ while hers was an irrefutable _I am my own individual person and you cannot physically stop me from doing this._ He literally could not argue with that _._

When it was inevitably their row’s turn to go up, Bin returned his camera to its case, fished his gifts and photobook out of his backpack (which were relocated to a tote bag that was easier to bring with him), and placed both his backpack and the camera case in his seat so no one would trip over them when they exited the row.

Over the past couple weeks he had gotten more comfortable with leaving his belongings in his seat rather than bringing them up with him, which had become kind of a hassle since he brought more along with him between his camera case and its contents _and_ his backpack full of goodies and essentials than the typical Aroha usually would.

He followed behind CHILL, vehemently trying to get her to not use the fake bug. He’d rather settle for some calmer, less fear induced yelling due to the fake shocking gum than a potentially ear-splitting shrieks. Ultimately he did win, convincing her to just be a vehicle for evil and give the fake bug to Jinwoo to do with whatever he wished. They spent the rest of their time discussing who they thought he would target as his first victim upon acquiring the plastic scream machine and decided on Sanha, to which the people in line around them (when asked by CHILL) unanimously agreed.

 

“So it’s you," Jinjin said when Bin handed him the photobook and sat down, the smiling demeanor he had while CHILL was with him dropping into something less friendly.

Bin waited for a follow-up to the statement so he could confirm if it was or was not him (whatever _it_ could possibly be), but the man sitting across from him didn’t bother to elaborate. He seemed to be looking for his page and sticky note in the photobook, which Bin belatedly realized he had forgot to mark for easier access. Delayed and very confused, Bin answered, “um..?”

"Queen’s House. Aori Ramen,” Jinjin finally clarified, finding his page and focusing on reading the sticky note stuck to it. “The mystery trainee.”

"Oh, um...yeah,” he admitted, suddenly nervous that CHILL could potentially listening in on their conversation, even though she was clearly absorbed in her conversation with Minhyuk. It wasn’t exactly the best idea to announce that he was the guy that several thousand people were curious about and looking for in a public space, but he felt compelled to tell the truth in the presence of Astro’s leader. “That’s me.”

Jinjin looked up from the page to squint briefly at Bin before saying, “I can see it.”

Again, he didn’t elaborate ― just went back to the sticky note, leaving Bin even more confused than before. What could he see? What about Bin (or Bin’s appearance?) could he come to a conclusion that he did, indeed, fit whatever Jinjin was imagining. Was it that he looked like the mystery trainee (which was actually him, so yeah, he sure hoped he did) or that he just looked like he could be a trainee in general?

Bin didn’t get the chance to ask before he was being handed back his photobook and being waved to the next seat by the staff behind Jinjin. He shuffled seats, handing the photobook off to Minhyuk.

"I'm sorry about… whatever that was,” Minhyuk said, vaguely motioning to his left as he flipped through the photobook. He found his page and looked back up, an apologetic look on his face, “he just cares a lot. I think he was trying to..intimidate you? Honestly, I don’t know."

Bin paused to think about what had just happened before admitting, “I don’t know either.”

“Again, I’m sorry.” He deliberately, audibly, and exaggeratedly sighed, before saying, “this is all Chanhee’s fault.”

“You are absolutely right. Like I said last time, he is a literal demon.” They giggled together for a moment. "But no, it's fine, I get it. Jinjin’s your leader and you have an image to maintain, so it’s obvious he would try and..intimidate? Intimidate me. You can’t get into any scandals or anything. I mean, I don’t know how just having friends could possibly be a scandal, but okay.” Minhyuk shrugged, muttering something that sounded like _gossip sites are wild, man_ before backtracked his thoughts, “wait. We’re friends...right? Like, I don’t want to assume things, but I’ve been living for the past two weeks with the assumption that we are. If we’re not, this is gonna be real awkward.”

“Hmm, I don’t know yet,” he hummed, leaning back in his chair and playing with the marker in his hand. “All you’ve done is so far is cause me and my agency trouble.”

“Aw c’mon, that wasn’t even my fault,” Bin whined. “We bonded over dancing. We have each other’s contact information. I brought you a snack. _I bought you meat!_ ”

Minhyuk perked up at the mention of a snack, ignoring everything else that came out of Bin’s mouth and sitting straight up in his chair, “you brought me food?”

Bin nodded, reaching into his bag to fish out a package of macarons. He handed them off to Minhyuk’s grabby hands.

“ _Ugh_ ,” he groaned, flipping the package to look at the logo, “these are the good ones from that shop two blocks over too, I was so sad when our manager said we wouldn’t have time to stop there.”

“So, friends?”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Minhyuk said, handing the photobook over to Sanha, who had been posing for pictures since the seat in front of him was empty, “as long as you keep bringing me these macarons, we can be best friends.”

“Noted, macarons equal friendship,” Bin said as he hopped over the next seat.

“Hyung! It’s you!” Sanha exclaimed, flipping open the photobook.

He grinned. “You say that literally every time you see me, Sanha,”

He shrugged, finding his page fairly quickly and becoming quiet as he focused on reading what was written on the sticky note. He stuck his tongue out as he did, before he started scribbling down his answer. When he finished he gave the photobook back and put his head in his hands, blinking innocently as he asked, “did you bring me anything, Hyung?”

Bin immediately regretted not bringing anything to this fansign for Sanha, knowing that he was going to get guilt-tripped into bringing him something next time and break the schedule he had unconsciously created (which had only started one fansigns ago, with the order being MJ, then Minhyuk. Sanha was supposed to be next, but Jinjin had been bumped up to third so Bin could attempt to reconcile whatever wrongdoing he had done). “Sorry, not this time.” 

Sanha pouted childishly, clearly not with any actual sadness. “But you always bring Eunwoo-hyung something,” he complained.

“That’s different. I’m like, required to bring him something, being his fansite and all.”

Sanha’s lips changed from pouting to pursed. “I guess you’re right… What did you bring him though?”

Bin pulled his bag into his lap and took the bubble out, watching Sanha’s mouth drop open as he gasped. 

“You brought a bubble gun?” A big sigh escaped him and he laid his upper half down on the table. “This is the worst day of my life, Hyung.”

Bin couldn’t help but laugh at his dramatics. “Sorry Sanha. I could always bring it again next time?”

Sanha waved his hand dismissively, not moving from his position. “It’s okay, I’ll just steal it from him.”

“Sanha, you know I’m sitting right next to you and can hear everything you say, right?” Eunwoo interjected, leaning over. 

“Yeah, but you’ll let me take it from you because you love me and I’m your baby,” he said, laying the cuteness on thick. 

Eunwoo didn’t dignify that with a reply, and instead just made a face at Sanha and motioned for Bin to move into the seat in front of him; Bin complied and Sanha made an affronted noise, which both of them ignored. 

“Your bubble gun, which will inevitably be stolen by Sanha,” Bin said, handing Eunwoo said bubble gun, and then the photobook. “So like, probably in about ten minutes.”

Eunwoo smiled as he opened the photobook, “you’re right. But thanks anyway, Bin.” 

Over the course of several fansigns, Bin had gotten better at being directly in the presence of Eunwoo and not blacking out immediately afterwards. It was kind of like looking at the sun ― doing it even though you’re not supposed to, squinting at it and then looking away with sunspots dancing across your vision. If looking at the sun was something you could build up a tolerance to, this would be exactly it. Which honestly, if a pretty bad example and there are definitely better metaphors, but nothing else really fit.

“Bin,” Eunwoo said, looking directly at him. Oh shit, he’d probably been staring while he zoned out and thought up his shitty metaphor. “What are you staring at?”

On reflex Bin answered, “you.” 

Literally, out of all the things his brain could’ve thought of, he was provided with a cliché drama line. But unlike a drama, there was no music playing, no sudden end to the episode with ads playing over the same final shot from ten different angles, no dramatic kiss scene. Just one awkward cough from MJ and silence from Eunwoo.

“I am so sorry,” he rushed out, “I mean it’s true, I was probably staring at you, but like, I was zoned out and I couldn’t help it because you’re literally right in front of me, where else am I supposed to look?”

“Bin,” Eunwoo said, grinning as he put his hand on top of Bin’s in an attempt to get him to relax, “it’s okay. You’re allowed to look at me. I was just teasing you since you looked spaced out.”

“O-oh,” Bin stuttered dumbly, which only increased the wattage of Eunwoo’s smile.

“Yeah.” The smile dimmed as he pulled his hand back from Bin’s to return the photobook. “You gotta move to MJ-hyung now, though.” Bin must have frowned without realizing it because Eunwoo knocked their knuckles together lightly. “Don’t be sad. We’ll see each other again next time though, right?”

“Yeah,” he promised, even though he had no way of knowing if he would get into the next fansign. God, he sure hoped so. 

The staff behind Eunwoo waved Bin to the last seat and he moved over, getting greeted by MJ with a cheerful, “ _ hello!”  _

Bin greeted him back and handed over the photobook, only to him have put both his hands on book and lean forward to ask, “he didn’t intimidate you, did he?” Bin assumed MJ meant Jinjin, so he nodded, albeit hesitantly (because could that really be considered intimidation? It was more like a cold shoulder), causing MJ to sigh as he opened the photobook. “I told him not to but he did anyway. I mean, what’s wrong with having friends? It’s not like you’ll cause a scandal on purpose, right?” He looked up, leveling Bin with a look, “ _ right? _ ”

“Oh, god  _ no. _ Of course not.”

“That is the correct answer.” MJ smiled at him, “from what Minhyuk’s said, you’re a great kid. Keep being a great kid and we won’t have any issues.”

“Okay,” Bin said, although it sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Okay, with that out of the way,” he said, finding his sticky note, “those googly eyes you made at the man to the left. You’re not very subtle, you know.”

“What? No, I―”

“It’s okay, your secret’s safe with me,” MJ whispered conspiratorially.  
  


(When Bin got back to his seat he checked his phone to see two messages from  **namsan tower** that read:  _ Wow if that wasn’t gay I dont know what is  _ and  _ Don’t worry I recorded the whole thing and I am absolutely sending it straight to the gc as soon as it’s off my camera.  _ He glared up in the general direction of where Hue was sitting.)

 

 **╭╮투문╰╯/ 꿀차 @honeytea97330  
** 171225 BUSAN FANSIGN ☆ EUNWOO STICKY NOTE  
Q: Where would you take Roha on a date?  
A. Han River  
B. Myeongdong  
C. It would be a surprise  
Ⓓ Anywhere, as long as I’m with you  
E. Other:  
**2.3k replies, 7.1k retweets, 11.8k likes**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some notes!!  
> \- lowkey hue is trying to get bin to confess to being the mystery trainee, meanwhile bin is Oblivious  
> \- bin sold all the slots (minus eunwoo's) for this fansign!  
> \- the friend that refuses to associate with chill is oh my honey from last chapter! (they're actually childhood friends and chill is just joking, they do associate in public lmao)  
> \- (but chill is an Embarrassing Friend so omh sometimes refuses to acknowledge her prescence lmao)  
> \- sooah (now bin) has this huge box of stuff she collected just for fansigns (it's mostly headbands and stickers tho)


	8. 제 팔 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry no eunwoo action in this chapter but! we do finally get to meet bin's roommate!! :-)

“Hyung, I’m home!” Bin called out as he kicked the door shut to his apartment with his foot. He set the bags he was carrying ― a tied plastic one from the fried chicken place down the street he often frequented, and a small paper one from the cafe he worked at ― so he could pull off his shoes and shove his feet into his house slippers.

“I brought dinner,” he continued, stepping past the threshold into the living room. He set the fried chicken bag on the coffee table and took the one from the cafe into their tiny kitchen. He set the bag on the counter and carefully removed (half) a cheesecake, a loaf of bread, and a couple of muffins; the cheesecake went into the fridge, the bread into their pathetically empty breadbox, and the muffins into a plastic container so they wouldn’t go stale before morning in their paper wrappings.  “It’s fried chicken from the place down the street. The auntie gave us some little extra too, but now that I think about it, that might be because I was the one who ordered it.”

With the perishable goods taken care of, he moved back into the living room, unbuttoning his work shirt and throwing it onto the couch before sinking to the ground. He was too hungry and lazy to properly change into comfy house clothes (read: sweatpants). He untied the plastic bag on the coffee table, taking out the two boxes of fried chicken and container of pickled radish. He opened them and pulled apart his pair of disposable chopsticks, ready to start eating before he realized that there hadn’t been a single peep out of his roommate. Was he asleep? It was a little early for him to already be sleeping.

He leaned to the side, practically laying on the ground, so he could see down the hallway. The door to both of their bedrooms were closed, but the door to the bathroom was open. The light was on too. Huh, he hadn’t noticed it when he came in. There wasn’t any sounds of water running, though.

“Hyung!” he called again. Silence. “ _Hyuuuuuung!"_  This time, a grunt from the bathroom. “Hyung, if you don’t come out here soon, I’m going to start eating without you.”

“Hush, Bin,” he said, voice carrying from the bathroom. “I’m having a moment of self-reflection.”

“You mean just staring at your reflection?” Bin said, already sticking his chopsticks into the box and taking out a piece of chicken. He held it up to his lips, “I know you think you’re handsome, but this is a bit much, even for you.” He shoved it into his mouth, already going back to grab another piece.

“How dare you talk to your hyung like that,” the voice drifted from the bathroom, clearly teasing. “I said something very, very stupid today so I’m just giving myself a moment to think about all of the life choices I’ve made up until this point. Like, is this the right path for me. Am I doing something wrong? Is this karma getting back at me for something I did when I was seven?”

Bin groaned. “Hyung, stop having an existential crisis in our bathroom and come eat some chicken before I eat it all by myself.”

There was some shuffling from the bathroom before Seongwoo poked his head out into the hallway, “don’t you fucking dare, you bottomless pit.”

Bin just grinned at him, popping a cube of pickled radish into his mouth. “I’m a growing boy, Hyung.”

“Growing boys don’t eat a whole King Tonkatsu and still have room for more food,“ Seongwoo said, flipping off the bathroom light.

Bin sat back up, shrugging as Seongwoo joined him in the living room. He handed the elder his chopsticks before setting his own down and pushing himself up. He tugged his t-shirt down from where it had ridden up and headed back to the kitchen. “What do you want to drink?” he asked, pulling open the fridge door.

Seongwoo stuffed a piece of chicken into his mouth, “what do we have?”

Bin leaned forward, surveying the contents of their fridge. Not much, to be honest. “Water, cola, half a bottle of soju, a unmarked bottle of a suspiciously yellow liquid, and some Hite.”

“I don’t know how that Hite got in our fridge on the grounds that I would literally drink piss before I drank Hite, but gimme one.” He stabbed his chopsticks in Bins direction, “I’m not gonna pass up the heavenly combo that is chicken and beer. If I hadn’t literally spent my last couple thousand won on coffee this morning I would run down to the convenience store and buy some better beer, but. Here I am. Broke and willing to settle for _Hite,_ of all beers.”

He grabbed a can of Hite and a Coke for himself before shutting the fridge. “Does this also have anything to do with the stupid thing you said today? Trying to drown your sorrows?”

Seongwoo scoffed. “More like trying to quell my stress from this horrific mistake.”

“You should eat something spicy for the stress, Hyung.” Bin opened a cabinet, pulling out two glasses. “I think we still have one bowl of the Nuclear Fire Chicken Stir-Fry Noodles left?”

“No thanks!” he vehemently declined. “I don’t want to die. Plus, we don’t have any peach milk so I would actually, literally die.” There was a pause. “Wait…”

Bin came back into the living room, setting the glasses on the table. “I don’t think the noodles would actually kill you, Hyung.”

“If there’s even a one percent chance of death, I’d take it,” he said, taking his can of Hite from Bin.

“I feel like whatever you said that you thought was stupid isn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be.”

“It actually really is” he said as he poured his beer into the glass. “But enough about me and my disaster life, how’s yours been? Anything particularly eventful happen today?”

“Not really,” Bin he said, taking a sip from his Coke. “Nothing was spilled on me today and I got to bring home extras from the cafe.”

“What goodies did you bring this time?”

“Half a cheesecake, a loaf of bread, and some muffins.”

Seongwoo groaned dramatically, dropping his upper body on the table in the space not occupied by their food. “Why didn’t you tell me that _fiiiiiiirst_ ,” he bemoaned, “I could’ve been stress eating that beautiful cheesecake instead of drinking away my sorrows.”

“You don’t even know what kind of cheesecake it is.”

“I don’t need to know what kind of cheesecake it is. Any kind of cheesecake is good cheesecake.”

Bin pursed his lips. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Would you pass up a free slice of cheesecake?” Seongwoo asked, pointing his chopsticks at the younger.

“No,” he answered automatically.

“Even if it wasn’t the best cheesecake, would you still take it?”

“Yeah. Free food is free food.”

“Then any cheesecake is good cheesecake,” he stabbed his chopsticks in Bin’s direction, for emphasis.

“I guess, if you put it that way.”

Seongwoo sat back up. “Okay, let's finish this chicken so we can eat that good, good cheesecake already.”

 

Despite having been roommates with Seongwoo for almost a month, Bin knew almost nothing about the older; the extent to what Bin knew about him was that he had some sort of job that had flexible hours but paid enough that he could afford half the rent, and that he went to the same cat cafe almost every day (coming home covered in cat hair was enough of an indicator of that), despite not particularly caring for the animal. But Seongwoo didn’t really know a lot about Bin, either, other than he he worked at the Energetic, due to Bin’s habit of leaving his work shirts around the apartment and constantly bringing home goodies in bags with the cafe’s logo printed on the side.

(Bin liked to assume that Seongwoo didn’t know that on the side, he moonlighted as a fansite master ― he had carefully removed all easily unexplainable traces of large amounts of Astro paraphernalia from the apartment and Sooah’s room before he had shown the apartment and room to Seongwoo. Since moving in, Seongwoo had definitely seen Bin with Sooah’s camera and leave or return to the apartment carrying the camera case, but hadn’t questioned it once. Maybe he thought Bin was still in college, a photography major? Or that he liked to do photography for a hobby? Whatever he thought, Bin was going to let him keep thinking it.)

Regardless of the fact that they knew very little about each other, they had gotten along well and bonded rather quickly. Like now, with them doing their (almost weekly) ritual of face masks after having ordered takeout, which usually ended up with one of them falling asleep on the couch with their mask still on when they woke up in the morning.

“Which one do you want?” Bin asked, leaning across the bathroom’s threshold, holding up three fleece headbands. Usually they didn’t use the headbands, but both of them were in need of haircuts and neither wanted to lay on the floor to keep their hair from getting stuck on the face masks, so headbands it was. “White cat ears, blue polka-dot bow, or the cat from Sailor Moon?”

Seongwoo stopped looking through their box of masks to glace at Bin. “What about the bear ear one?”

“Rilakkuma?” Seongwoo nodded. “The stitching ripped and the elastic came out.”

Seongwoo pouted, “Luna, then.”

Bin flung the headband at the older before pulling the blue polka-dotted one over his head, pulling his bangs away from his face. He put the extra headband in the box with the facemasks as he selected the one he wanted to use, waiting for Seongwoo to put his on so he could use the mirror.

“I don’t know why but I feel like I’m at a sleepover every time we do this,” Bin admitted, ripping open the package of his mask.

“Me too, to be honest,” Seongwoo said as adjusted his mask before pushing away from the sink, facing Bin. “Alright, now it’s time to catch up on the latest idol groups, see what the teens are listening to these days.”

Bin stepped in front of the mirror. “You know that companies pay for their groups to be on music shows, right?”

“Well, they must be popular enough to make enough money for their company to put them on the show in the place, so people must be listening to them?” he continued, leaving the bathroom but raising his voice as he walked away so he could still be heard.

“I guess you’re right,” Bin conceded, hearing Seongwoo drop down onto their couch with a groan.

“I’m always right. Proof: every cheesecake being good cheesecake.”

“Energetic makes really good cheesecake, though,” Bin said, flipping off the bathroom light and joining Seongwoo on the couch in the living room. He was flipping through channels, trying to find whatever music show was on that night. It turned out to be Show Champion, already well into the program.

“They really do,” Seongwoo said, tossing the remote onto the coffee table and sinking into the couch.

For the remainder of the music show, both of them sang along to songs they knew (although very difficult with face masks on) and danced along to the choreography as best as they could while sitting down. When the performances came to an end, they even participated the live voting, hi-fiving when the group they voted for won by a slim margin.

“Alright,” Seongwoo huffed, pushing himself up off the couch. “Time to take this mask off.” He glanced down at Bin, “I’m going to bed, so don’t fall asleep with yours on.”

“You say that like it will have any actual impact on whether I do or do not fall asleep with it on.”

“I’m just saying,” he said, peeling off his mask and already heading to the bathroom, leaving Bin alone in the living room.

He shut off the TV, kicking his feet up onto the space that Seongwoo had just vacated. As he picked up his phone, it buzzed with an incoming message. He expected it to be Sooah, or a message from his groupchat with Hue, Sol, and Jiji, but it turned out to be from an unknown number. He read the preview, _This is moon bin, right?_ and his eyebrows immediately furrowed. Why was an unknown number texting him, asking if he was himself?

He unlocked his phone, opening the chat.

 

**[ UNKNOWN & ME (2) ]**

**UNKNOWN [ 20:12 ]  
** This is moon bin, right?

 **[ 20:12 ] ME  
** yeah  
who r u tho

 **UNKNOWN [ 20:12 ]  
** Uh not to sound like suspicious or anything but can you send some proof that you are indeed moon bin

 

 **[ 20:13 ] ME  
** that’s definitely suspicious and im not gonna do that  
i dont even know who u are  
what are you, a stalker or smth  
how did you get my number?

 **UNKNOWN [ 20:13 ]  
** ...  
You know you text exactly like you speak, it's really surprising  
So i'll let you off without need to provide any proof that you are really moon bin  
But chanhee gave me your number

 **[ 20:13 ]** **ME  
** ???  
that still doesnt tell me who you are

 **UNKNOWN [ 20:14 ]  
** I...think it should be a little obvious who I am lol

 **[ 20:14 ] ME  
** idk who chanhee gives my number to these days he’s a demon

 **UNKNOWN [ 20:14 ]  
** It’s minhyuk

 **[ 20:14 ] ME  
** ur gonna have to be a little more specific  
minhyuk is a very common name

 **UNKNOWN [ 20:15 ]  
** Park minhyuk  
Rocky?  
Of kpop group Astro  
Main dancer  
Lead rapper  
Could be considered a vocalist

 **[ 20:15 ] ME  
** hold on just a moment

 

He quickly opened his chat with Chanhee, sending him a text.

 

**[ i’d sell you to satan for one corn chip (2) ]**

 

 **[ 20:15 ]** **trash  
** did you give minhyuk my number?????

 **demon [ 20:17 ]  
** ur going to  have to be more specific

 **[ 20:17 ]** **trash  
** park minhyuk  
rocky  
astro  
main dancer

 **demon [ 20:17 ]  
** oh  
yeah lmao  
he asked for it

 **[ 20:18 ]** **trash  
** okay  
cool cool cool cool cool cool  
wait didn't he already have my phone number  
i'm p sure we exchanged phone numbers that time i treated u 2 to meat

 **demon [ 20:18 ]  
** he got a new phone  & number  
something about a company change? or privacy update thing? idk & i dont really remember lol  
all i know is that he got a new phone and lost all his contacts  
also stop  
don’t make it weird  
just act like ur talking to me

 **[ 20:18 ]** **trash  
** that's..weird but ok lmao **  
** how can i he’s literally a Famous Person

 **demon [ 20:18 ]  
** hey i’m a Famous Person too >:(

 **[ 20:19 ]** **trash  
** no ur someone who i saw pick their wedgies when we were six  
sorry but i can never seen you as a Famous Person

 **demon [ 20:19 ]  
** Rude

 **[ 20:19 ]** **trash  
** anw i must go now  
i have things to do  
Famous People to talk to

He switched back to to his chat with Minhyuk, grinning as he changed the chat name and typed out a message. 

 

**[ park "mr the rock" "rocky" minhyuk (2) ]**

**[ 20:20 ]**   **ME  
** hello again, mr. the rock

 **UNKNOWN** **[ 20:20 ]**  
Nevermind  
I regret this already  
Please block my number

 **[ 20:20 ]**   **ME  
** you did this to urself, mr. the rock

 **UNKNOWN** **[ 20:20 ]  
** Google search can you ban someone from a fansign on the grounds that they gave you a stupid nickname


	9. 제 구 장

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me? updating within a one-month period instead of taking several months to write a chapter? unheard of

There was a reason why Bin usually took later shifts at Energetic, which included but were not limited to the facts that he was not particularly a morning person, he’d rather sleep in if given the chance, and that he sometimes got to take home leftovers from the cafe when some of what they had on display had passed their sell by dates. When asked, he would take earlier shifts, but rarely ever opening ones.

Late last night, Jisung had called Bin in a panic because his younger sister had apparently planned to make a surprise visit the next day, but needed him to pick her up from the train station and then entertain her for the day since he didn’t trust her enough to leave her alone in his apartment for half the day. It was supposed to be Bin’s day off, but Jisung didn’t trust anyone else (read: Jaehwan) to open in the morning. He had rushed over to Bin’s apartment to drop off the keys, promising to pay him for overtime and let him take home some baked goods as compensation.

A soft thumping sound drew him out of the reverie he had been in; he glanced down at the mug and rag in his hands and then at the clock on the far wall. He had been polishing it for at least five minutes while his mind had wandered elsewhere. The thumping started again and Bin directed his attention to the source of the sound: Sohye, standing at the front door, hand on the handle and soft banging her forehead against the glass. He quickly set the mug and rag down on the counter, rounding the machines and walking to the front to unlock the door and pulling it open to let her in.

“Morning,” Sohye greeted, like she hadn’t just been knocking her head at the glass door for the past minute as she walked into the warmth of the cafe.

“Morning,” he echoed. He flipped the sign hanging on the door from _CLOSED_ to _OPEN_ as he watched her walk over to one of the tables near the big front window and drop her backpack into the chair. He had never actually met Sohye, apart from when she came into the cafe after her classes to study or nap.

He didn’t know when it had happened, but Sohye had become an (un)official employee at Energetic. Originally, she had just been a regular who always arrived at the cafe as soon as its operating hours began just to take a fifteen to forty-five minute nap at one of the tables before waking up and ordering a drink to go before she left. After some prying on by Jisung, curious about why this girl would come in so early and regularly just to sleep and get a drink to go, he learned that Sohye was a university student and that the cafe was closer to campus than her apartment (five minutes vs half an hour on foot), so she had started coming early to ensure she wouldn’t be late to her early classes due to oversleeping and potential traffic, before taking a quick nap and getting her caffeine fix before she headed off to class.

After a month and a half of Sohye showing up early and per a suggestion from Sohye herself, Jisung began putting out a chalkboard sign with that day’s sales or specials, which Sohye decorated in exchange for free drinks as payment for her labor.

“My chalkboard,” she said as she ran her fingers through her hair, pulling it into a ponytail. Bin fetched the chalkboard from where it sat leaned up against the space next to the door, took the rotating list of sales and specials and a pack of chalk markers from the drawer next to the register, and handed them off to Sohye. “Thank you.”

He made a hum of acknowledgement as he watched her lay the chalkboard on the ground in front of her and sit cross-legged on the floor, leaning forwards and beginning to write out the day’s special.

Bin went back behind the counter, turning on all the machines and beginning to brew a drip coffee for himself since the machines were still warming up. He let his mind wander again as he poured the water over the coffee grounds. For some reason, his brain went to the drama _Coffee Prince_. He hadn’t watched it in a while...maybe he needed to watch it again. He was sure he could convince Seongwoo to watch it with them, since they had already watched the entirety _I’m Not a Robot_ together.

He looked up out of instinct when he heard the bell on the door jingle, but only saw Sohye coming back into the cafe. She must’ve finished up the sign and put it outside while he wasn’t paying attention. She walk back to her table and  sat across from her backpack, glancing at her phone before setting it flat on the table. She put her head in her arms, looking at Bin. “Can you wake me up in twenty minutes?”

Bin glanced at the clock: _6:39 AM,_ it read _._ “With your drink ready?” he asked.

“Please,” Sohye mumbled quietly, half asleep already. She belatedly added, “Americano, with two extra shots of espresso.”

“You got it,” he said, setting down the empty kettle he had been holding.

He let his coffee brew as he flitted around the cafe, replenishing low stock from the back room, actually stepping outside to see what the special was so he actually knew what people were ordering when they asked for today’s special, cleaning out the fridge under the counter, and looking for a playlist to play over the cafe’s speakers since there was no one there to physically stop him from playing music he wanted to listen to instead of the _Top 100 Pop Hits_ playlist Jisung always played. After the playlist was selected, he enjoyed his cup of drip coffee and danced around a little as he pulled the rest of the chairs down off the tables.

By the time the bell rang again, Bin was crouched behind the counter, cleaning caramel sauce off the front of the mini fridge. Apparently, after someone had refilled it last night they didn’t screw the lid on at all and as a result spilled all over the counter when he accidentally knocked it with his hand and dripped down on the (luckily) stainless steel fridge and had started pooling in a puddle on the floor. He peeked his head above the counter, spotting someone clad in all black, with glasses, a mask, and a hat on. Probably a university student with an 8 a.m. lecture like Sohye, or a regular that Bin didn’t know about. He glanced at the clock on the wall ― it was ten minutes before Energetic actually opened, but he’d let it slide.

“Sorry, we’re not open yet,” Bin said as he stood back up, making the guy jump and let out a small, surprised noise. He had to suppress the smile that was threatening to form on his lips at the sound, pressing his lips together. The guy then glanced behind them to look at the door, as if they had read the open sign wrong, before looking back at Bin (but not before their gaze lingered for a moment on the table where Sohye was napping). “The machine still needs to finish warming up. I can take your order right now, though, you can have a seat and I can make it when it’s ready, if you want?”

“Okay,” he agreed, voice muffled by his mask, but it couldn’t hide the weird intonation of the word. Maybe he was sick? That could explain it; it was allergy season after all.

Oblivious, Bin moved back over to the register, wiping off his hands with his rag and carefully avoiding the puddle of caramel on the floor. “So, what can I get you?”

“Um…”He glanced up at the menu board, taking a moment to survey the large assortment of oddly named drinks. “One Super Hot, please? Uh, regular size.”

“Alright,” Bin said, not bothering to get a name from the guy since he was likely going to be the only person actually ordering anything in the next twenty minutes. “Anything else, or is that it?”

There was a moment of contemplation before he said, “actually, can I get two more Super Hots, and four iced Super Hots ― all the same size as the first?”

“ _Mhm,_ ” Bin hummed, adding the additional drinks and buns to the order and ringing it up. He handed him the receipt after it was printed. “I’m gonna go ahead and assume this is to go, and not all for you?”

The guy fiddled with the receipt. “Uh, yeah.”

He moved to start making the drinks, continuing to talk over the espresso machine, “do you want me to put the drinks in a tray so they’re easier to carry? I don’t know how far you’re going, but I can put the cold ones in a bag so you’re not struggling to balance two trays the whole way.”

The guy just nodded.

“Okay, cool,” he moved to grab the cups he needed, lining them up on the counter, “you can have a seat, it’s gonna take me a minute to make all these.”

The guy took a seat by the counter, watching Bin work for a little bit ― Bin only knew this because he could feel the guy staring at him, and then watch him quickly glance away when Bin looked up ― before he resorted to playing on his phone. Then it was Bin’s turn to stare for a little, watching him scroll and rub at his eyes every now and then, and stifle a yawn with his hand even though he was wearing a mask.

When he had finished all the drinks and started shoving them into the trays ― save for the first drink the guy had ordered ― he impulsively made the decision to grab a piece of their carp bread from the case, wrapping it up in a piece of wax paper and writing _you can do it!_ on it since he was drawing a blank on any other sort of encouraging words he could potentially write on it. He tacked on a _sometimes you need a pick me up, so here’s some carp bread!_ above the other phrase he had written, hoping that this guy wouldn’t think he was weird for giving him some free carp bread and writing an encouraging message on it. He looked like he needed it to be honest, what with him being up so early and out getting drinks for people. He tucked wrapped carp bread between the iced drinks before he could start overthinking it and put the tray into a paper bag.

He rounded the counter after that, grabbing the guy’s drink first and handing it off to him as he said, “your Super Hot.”

The guy glanced up from his phone and hesitated for a second before taking the cup, almost automatically saying, “no, you are.”

“I’m…” Bin started, but trailed off, already turning around to grab the other tray and the bag. It took him a moment to realize what just happened ― he had just been hit on. He had turned back around, tray and bag in his hands, he was still mentally processing that he had just been flirted with, using a play on the name of the drink he had ordered. How long did he sit there and come up with that? What if Bin hadn’t said _your Super Hot,_ what would he have said then? Was it an accident? Bin could understand that, considering his brain to mouth filter sometimes failed him.

By the time he had fully processed the situation and had readied itself with a reply (a weak _thanks?_ ), the guy had disappeared. Bin just sighed, body sagging, “...okay.”

Sohye rolled her head to the side, squinting at Bin across the cafe. “Did that really just happen or did I just have a very elaborate, very realistic dream?”

“I’m...not entirely sure.”

 

By the time Bin realized that Jiji had entered the cafe, she had already gotten in line and arrived at the counter, ready to order as she dug around in her bag for her wallet. He supposed that 1:43 p.m. was late enough for her to be out of her classes that day and come all the way to Energetic.

“Oh,” she said, mirroring Bin’s own surprise when she looked up. “Bin, I didn’t know you were working today.”

“I’m not supposed to be,” he said, fingers automatically going to hover over the hot chocolate option on the register’s screen. “Want your regular?”

She nodded, going back to digging around in her bag before looking back up, “actually, wait. Can I get like, a large hot chocolate but half of it is coffee? Can you even do that, is that a thing?” She made an _aha!_ noise as she pulled out her wallet, handing off a few bills to Bin before she even got her total. “Also, have you taken your break yet?”

“It’s not, but we can make it one.” Bin took the money, ringing her up for a large coffee with extra pumps of chocolate syrup, which was as close as he was going to get for her order. He gave her the change and receipt, “and yeah, but my shift’s about to end, though. Why?”

“Come sit with me before you go? I have something I need to tell you first, since you haven’t looked at the groupchat yet.”

“I haven’t had time to, we just slowed down,” he said, grabbing a large paper cup. “Go sit down though, I’ll bring you your drink.”

“Okay,” she said, going to find a place to sit while Bin made her drink.

As he shuffled past where Jaehwan was blending up a smoothie he said, “I’m gonna clock out a little early, hope you don’t mind.”

Jaehwan, in response, let out an insufferable groan that drew the attention of several cafe goers and said nothing else, so Bin went along making Jiji’s drink and one for himself, clocking out and taking off his apron as soon as he finished. He snagged a piece of their cheesecake from the display case and put everything on a tray, walking over to the table that Jiji had claimed. She appeared to have come to the cafe to study, if the textbooks stacked next to her were anything to go by.

“Here you go,” he said, setting the tray down and taking a seat across from her.

“Thanks,” she said, automatically reaching for one of the forks.

“So, what did you need to tell me?” he asked, picking up his drink and leaning back in the chair.

Instead of giving him a straightforward response, she asked, “did anyone particularly noteworthy come into the cafe today?”

Bin furrowed his eyebrows, shaking his head. “No, no one that I can think of.” He paused, suddenly remembering the guy that had come in around opening. “Oh, wait, there was this one dude who came in like, super early. We weren’t open yet but I wasn’t gonna make him stand outside, y’know? But he ordered a Super Hot and when I handed it I said _your Super Hot_ , as in _here is the drink you ordered,_ but he says _no you are_ to me after I hand it to him. And I was like, out of it since I haven’t been awake that early in literal years so I just say _okay_ and he left.” He sipped his drink. “There was also a lady who came in dressed head to toe in hot pink, so that was something. Why?”

“No one else?” Jiji asked. Bin shook his head. She sighed deeply. “Bin, I love you, but you’re a literal idiot.”

“I bring you a slice of cheesecake and this is how you repay me? With insults?” He snatched the plate, setting it in front of him and picking up the other fork. He sliced off a large piece, shoving it into his mouth, “I get enough of that from Hue, I don’t need it from you too.”

“No, I mean literally,” she said, taking the plate back. “Do you know who that guy was?”

He shrugged, reaching for another bite of the cheesecake. “I didn’t ask for his name since he was the only one in the cafe that early besides Sohye. And to be honest, I couldn’t see him that well because I forgot to put in my contacts his morning and couldn’t find my glasses earlier.” He shoved another big piece into his mouth,”turns out I left them _in_ the fridge in the back and only found out when Jaehwan asked me why there was a pair of glasses sitting on our egg carton.”

“Wow,” Jiji said with faux amazement, “you really are an idiot.”

Bin frowned at her.

“Anyways, it was Eunwoo,” she said flatly.

Bin almost choked on his cheesecake. What? Eunwoo? As in, Cha Eunwoo? “ _What?"_

“If you would’ve been able to see this morning, you probably would’ve recognized him. I’m surprised you couldn’t recognize him by his voice, though.”

“How do you even know it was him?”

Jiji picked up her phone, typed something in, and then handed it over to Bin. Displayed on the screen was a picture of Eunwoo dressed in all black, wearing a hat and mask (which had been tugged down under his chin) holding a tray of drinks and carrying a bag that had Energetic’s logo clearly on the side. Jiji reached over the table, swiping through several other pictures of Eunwoo. “Those are from this morning, outside the CJ E&M building. They were recording for M Countdown today.” She took her phone back, typing some more before giving it back. “He posted a picture on Twitter later from their waiting room, and he was holding a piece of carp bread that was shaped suspiciously like the ones you sell here.”

Bin tapped on the photo, zooming in on the carp bread. Even though the it was half-eaten, he could definitely tell that it was shaped like their very round, proportionately inaccurate carp bread. So, he did notice the bread Bin had stuffed in the bag. Oh god, the message he’d written on the wax paper. He handed Jiji back her phone and then put his head into his hands, beginning to replay his whole interaction with Eunwoo this morning in his head. He didn’t say anything stupid, did he? Just the message, the message was the only weird thing. Did Eunwoo even recognize him? Scratch that, that was a dumb question; of course he recognized him. But Bin didn’t recognize _him_. Maybe he thought Bin was playing it cool? He- oh my god, Eunwoo flirted with him. He was flirted with _the_ Cha Eunwoo. _The_ Lee Dongmin. Or maybe it was a joke. Eunwoo did always say things to Bin that could be considered heart-fluttering, but most of it was with a playful tone. What if―

“I can see you spiraling,” Jiji said, interjecting his thoughts and throwing a wadded up napkin at him. “Stop it.”

“I can’t help it,” he mumbled into his hands, before dragging them down his face. “I’m a mess.”

“Yes, I know,” she said curtly, before pointing her fork at Bin. “So how are you going to confront Eunwoo now that he has explicitly flirted with you?”

Bin lowered his up half down onto the table, groaning. “I’m not. No more fansigns for me, I’m staying home forever. Honey Tea is going to retire and I’m going to open a dance studio in Jeju where Eunwoo will never ever see me again.”

“That’s a bit extreme. Don’t you like him?”

“I don’t know,” Bin groaned into the table’s surface. “Professionally? Yeah, he’s cool. Is really good at acting, singing, and dancing, and is handsome. Personally? He makes me nervous and I don’t know why.”

“That’s generally how people feel when they like someone,” she pointed out.

“I don’t know,” he repeated, lifting his head and slicing off another chunk of the cheesecake, “I’ll deal with it only when I have to and not a moment before then. If I think about it I’ll just stress myself out and make it worse. Hopefully I forget and then only have a day to come to terms with it and think of what to say to him.”

“Wow, going full _I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it_ , huh?”

“Absolutely.” He suddenly pushed his chair out, standing up. He grabbed his drink, downing half its contents. “Now if you need me, I’ll be at home taking the longest nap humanly possible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> reminder!! i have a [twitter](https://twitter.com/peachtoneau/) and a [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/peachtones/)!!


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